THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


The  James  Spnint  Historical  Publications 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 


The  North  Carolina  Historical  Society 


VOL.  17 


Editors: 

J.  G.  de  ROULHAC  HAMILTON 
HENRY  McGILBERT  WAGSTAFF 
WILLIAM  WHATLEV  PIERSON.  JR. 


No.   1 


CONTENTS 

THE  FREE  NEGRO  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA 

SOME  COLONIAL  HISTORY  OF  CRAVEN 
COUNTY 


CHAPEL  HILL 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

1920 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


The  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 


The  North  Carolina  Historical  Society 


EdiloTs: 

j.  G.  de  ROULHAC  HAMILTON 
HENRY  McGILBERT  WAGSTAFF 
WILLL\M  WHATLEY  PIERSON.  JR. 


VOL.  17 


No. 


COiNTENTS 

THE  FREE  NEGRO  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA 

SOME  COLONIAL  HISTORY  OF  CRAVEN 
COUNTY 


CHAPEL  HILL 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

1920 


THE  FREE  NEGRO  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA 


BY 
R.  H.  TAYLOR.  A.  M. 

Assistant  Professor  of  History 
The  Citadel 


J5       UOG 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/freenegroinnorthOOtayl 


THE  FREE  NEGRO  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA' 


INTRODUCTION 

The  most  pathetic  figure  in  North  Carolina  prior  to  the  Civil 
War  was  the  free  negro.  Hedged  about  with  social  and  legal  re- 
strictions, he  ever  remained  an  anomaly  in  the  social  and  polit- 
ical life  of  the  State. 

The  origin  of  this  class  of  people  may  be  attributed  to  many 
sources,  the  most  common  of  which  are  (1)  cohabitation  of  white 
women  and  negro  men,  (2)  intermarriage  of  blacks  and  whites, 
(3)  manumission,  (4)  military  service  in  the  Revolution,  and 
(5)  immigration  from  adjoining  States.  As  early  as  17232  many 
free  negroes,  mulattoes  and  persons  of  mixed  blood  had  moved 
into  the  Province  and  had  intermarried  with  the  white  inhabi- 
tants "in  contempt  of  the  acts  and  laws  in  those  cases  pro- 
vided." In  the  year  1715  in  order  to  discourage  intermarriage 
between  white  women  and  negro  men,  a  penalty  of  £50  was 
imposed  upon  the  contracting  parties,  while  clergymen  and  jus- 
tices of  peace  were  forbidden  to  celebrate  such  marriage  under 
a  like  penalty.^  However  regrettable  it  may  be,  it  is  certain  that 
there  were  a  few  disreputable  white  women  who  had  illegitimate 
children  by  negro  men,  and  such  children  inherited  the  legal 
status  of  the  mother.  The  laws  of  1715^  take  cognizance  of  this 
fact  by  imposing  a  penalty  on  any  white  woman  "whether  bond 
or  free",  who  shall  have  a  bastard  child  by  any  negro,  mulatto 
or  Indian. 

Probably  the  most  fruitful  origin  of  the  free  negro  class 
was  manumission.  While  it  is  doubtful  whether  many  slaves 
were  set  free  prior  to  1740,  it  is  certain  that  the  Quakers  in 
their  Yearly  Meeting  began  to  agitate  the  question  of  emanci- 


^  This    paper   was   prepared    as    a    thesis    in    partial    fulfilment   of    the    requirements 
for   the   degree   of   Master   of   Arts   in   the   University   of    North    Carolina. 

2  State   Records,   Vol.    XXIII,    pp.    106-107.      Hereafter   the    Colonial   Records   and 
state   Records   will   be   referred   to   as    "C.   R.",    and    "S.    R." 

3  Ibid.,    p.    65. 
*Ibid. 


6  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

pating  slaves  in  that  year,^  and  they  never  ceased  to  advocate 
emancipation  both  by  precept  and  example. 

The  free  negro  class  was  slightly  augmented  by  the  addition 
of  certain  negroes  who  had  served  in  the  continental  line 
of  the  State  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  many  of  whom  had 
been  promised  their  freedom  before  they  enlisted.  It  was  easy 
in  such  cases  to  allege  meritorious  service  as  a  ground  for  eman- 
cipation. To  the  before-mentioned  causes  for  the  existence  of  the 
free  negro  in  North  Carolina  should  be  added  one  other ;  namely, 
immigration,  particularly  from  Virginia.  Despite  the  law  to 
the  contrary,  many  free  negroes  drifted  across  the  State  line 
from  Virginia  into  North  Carolina  and  quietly  settled  on  the 
unproductive  land  adjacent  thereto.** 

In  every  instance  except  one  (service  in  the  Revolution)  the 
free  negro  came  into  being  against  the  will  of  the  State  either 
expressed  or  implied;  but  once  given  a  place  in  the  social  order 
of  the  commonwealth,  his  tribe  increased  in  spite  of  adverse 
laws  and  customs  prescribed  by  the  dominant  race. 

MANUMISSION    '""  ^"^'"' 

It  has  been  previously  noted  that  manumission  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  a  well-established  practice  before  1741;  how- 
ever the  practice  was  not  unknown  to  the  early  planters.  In 
the  laws  of  1723'''  complaint  was  made  that  the  law  which  re- 
quired all  free  negroes  to  leave  the  State  within  six  months  after 
being  set  free  had  been  disregarded  by  the  negroes,  who  returned 
after  a  time.  In  order  to  discourage  their  return  to  the  State, 
the  law  specifically  stated  that  all  such  free  negroes  returned 
contrary  to  law  should  be  arrested  and  sold  into  slavery  for  seven 
years, ^  and  the  sale  repeated  in  case  the  negro  returned  a  second 
time.  One  may  readily  infer  from  the  very  language  of  the  act 
that  it  was  "obeyed  but  not  executed."  That  provision  of  the  law 
which  required  all  free  negroes  to  leave  the  State  within  six 
months  after  being  liberated  does  not  occur  in  the  laws  of  1741 


« Negro  Year  Book,   1913. 

^  S.  R.,  Vol.  24,  p.  639. 

'  Atlantic    Monthly,    January,    1886. 

^  S.   B.,   Vol.    28,    pp.    106-107. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  7 

— a  fact  that  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  law  continued  to 
be  disregarded. 

Prior  to  1741  a  master  could  renounce  ownership  of  his  slave 
without  leave  of  court,  and  according  to  an  opinion  rendered  by 
Justice  Ruffin  in  the  case  of  Sampson  vs.  Burgwin^  he  could 
probably  do  so  until  1796 ;  however  such  a  renunciation  on  the 
part  of  a  slave  owner  was  equivalent  to  a  forfeiture  of  the 
slave  to  the  public,  which  in  turn  might  seize  him  and  sell  him 
into  slavery. 

The  law  of  1741,  which  is  the  first  comprehensive  statute  on 
the  subject  of  emancipation,  was  probably  enacted  as  a  safe- 
guard against  promiscuous  emancipation  of  slaves  by  the 
Quakers.  By  virtue  of  this  law^°  no  negro  or  mulatto  slave 
could  be  set  free  on  any  pretense  whatever,  "except  for  meri- 
torious services,  to  be  adjudged  and  allowed  of  by  the  county 
court,  and  license  therefrom  first  had  and  obtained.  "^^  For 
the  first  time  since  the  element  of  meritorious  service  enters 
into  the  law  as  a  determining  factor  in  emancipation.  By  rea- 
son of  the  fact  that  the  law  of  1741  was  flagrantly  violated  by 
certain  Quakers  in  Perquimans  and  Pasquotank  counties,  it  was 
reaffirmed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1777. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1726  the  Quakers,  already 
restive  under  the  restrictions  of  the  law  regarding  the  eman- 
cipation of  slaves,  took  advantage  of  the  uncertainty  of  the 
times  to  set  free  a  number  of  slaves  in  the  counties  of  Perqui- 
mans and  Pasquotank.  12  These  illegally-emancipated  slaves 
were  promptly  seized  and  sold  into  slavery,  whereupon  the 
Quakers  brought  suit  in  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Edenton 
District  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  legality  of  the  seizure  and 
sale  of  the  negroes.  The  Superior  Court  held  that  the  slaves  had 
been  unlawfully  deprived  of  their  liberties,  and  as  a  result  of 
the  decision  of  the  Court  many  of  the  negroes,  in  question,  were 
again  set  at  liberty. ^^     In  order  to  silence  any  further  contro- 


9  20  N.   C,   21. 

^■0  Revisal  of   1804,   ch.   24,   p.   66. 

"Weeks'    Southern    Quakers    and    Slavery,    pp.    209-210. 

12  Ibid. 

^^  Remarks   on   Slavery,   by    John    Parrish,    p.    210    (Weeks    Collection). 


8  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

versy,  the  legislature  of  1779  passed  a  law  confirming  the  sale 
of  illegally-liberated  slaves.^'* 

The  Quakers  were  ever  the  unrelenting  foes  of  slavery  and 
they  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  impress  upon  the  people  of 
the  State  their  conception  of  the  iniquity  of  slave  holding.  They 
petitioned  the  legislature  in  1790  to  the  end  that  the  law  of 
1741  be  repealed  and  an  act  passed  "whereby  the  free  citizens 
of  this  State,  who  are  conscientiously  scrupulous  of  holding 
slaves  may  legally  emancipate  them,  etc.."^^ 

Due  probably  to  the  Santo  Domingo  revolt  in  1791,  a  law 
was  passed  requiring  any  and  all  free  persons  of  color  who 
'^  shall  come  into  this  State  by  land  or  water  or  shall  hereafter 
be  emancipated"  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  £200,  such  bond  to 
be  held  as  surety  for  the  good  behavior  of  the  sojourning  negro.^^ 

Emancipation  came  to  be  quite  onerous  in  1801,  when  the 
legislature  passed  a  law^'''  placing  a  further  restriction  on  eman- 
cipators by  requiring  them  to  enter  into  bond  "in  the  sum  of 
£100  for  each  slave  so  liberated."  Undoubtedly  the  law  was 
disregarded  in  a  great  many  instances.  For  example,  we  find 
in  the  case  of  Sampson  vs.  Burgwin^^  that  a  county  court  eman- 
cipated a  slave  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  meritorious  serv- 
ice was  not  alleged.  The  Supreme  Court  held  that  an  eman- 
cipation of  that  kind  was  valid  because  the  county  court  had 
exclusive  jurisdiction.  Justice  RufiSn  observes  in  the  case  of 
Sampson  vs.  Burgwin  that  the  non-enforcement  of  the  law  by 
the  county  courts  probably  resulted  in  a  transference  of  their 
jurisdiction  over  the  matter  of  emancipation  to  the  Superior 
Courts  in  1830. 

The  act  of  1796  did  not  require  a  petition  in  writing  in  order 
to  emancipated^ ;  accordingly  a  free  negro  could  not  always  show 
conclusively  that  he  had  been  legally  set  free.  The  Supreme 
Court,  however,  consistently  held  the  opinion  that  where  the 
people  had  quietly  permitted  a  negro  to  enjoy  his  or  her  freedom 


1*  Weeks'    Southern    Quakers    and    Slavery,    p.    210. 

^"^  Ibid.,   p.    221. 

^"Martin's   Bevisal,    ch.    16,    p.    79. 

^'' Ibid.,   ch.   20,    p.    179. 

"20   N.    C,    21. 

^  stringer   vs.    Burcham,    34   N.   C,    43. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Caeolina  9 

for  a  number  of  years  "every  presumption  is  to  be  made  in 
favor  of  his  or  her  actual  emancipation,  "^o 

From  1801  to  1828,  notwithstanding  the  constant  fear  of  a 
negro  insurrection,  the  active  work  of  the  American  Coloniza- 
tion Society  and  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  Quakers  to  secure 
more  lenient  emancipation  laws,  there  was  a  period  of  compara- 
tive legislative  inactivity  with  reference  to  the  free  negro.  In 
fact,  during  this  period  there  was  considerable  sentiment  in  the 
State  favoring  the  liberation  of  slaves,  thanks  to  the  work  of 
the  Colonization  Society  and  the  North  Carolina  Manumission 
Society. 

The  North  Carolina  Manumission  Society  was  organized  by 
the  Quakers  of  Guilford,  Chatham  and  Randolph  counties  in 
1816,  and  remained  in  existence  for  more  than  twenty  years ; 
however  it  did  its  most  efficient  work  and  had  its  largest  mem- 
bership between  the  years  1825-1830.  Among  other  things,  it 
investigated  cases  of  kidnapping,  helped  to  raise  the  necessary 
money  for  purchasing  slaves,  and  used  its  influence  to  obtain 
more  lenient  emancipation  laws.-^.  The  Manumission  Society 
was  very  active  in  sending  slaves  to  free  territory  to  be  set 
free.  In  1826  two  boat  loads  of  negro  slaves  were  sent  to 
Africa22  and  in  1828  the  Society  sent  119  negroes  to  Haiti.  So 
many  negro  slaves  were  sent  to  Illinois  and  Indiana  by  the 
Manumission  Society  that  these  States  became  alarmed  and  en- 
acted very  stringent  laws  against  admitting  free  negroes.^^ 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the  benevolent  work  of  the 
Quakers  deserves  special  mention.  On  account  of  the  rigidity 
of  the  emancipation  laws,  the  Quakers  devised  a  scheme  by  which 
"Certain  parties  were  authorized  to  act  as  agents  and  receive 
certain  consignments  of  slaves  from  masters  who  wished  to  be 
rid  of  them."--*  While  these  slaves  were  under  the  tutelage  of 
the  Quakers  they  were  virtually,  though  not  nominally  free.  They 
were  held  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  being  transported  to 


^o  stringer    vs.    Burcham,    34    N.    C,    43. 

21  Trinity  Historical  Papers,  Vol.   10,   p.   48. 

^Ibid.,   Vol.    10,    p.    36. 

^-^ Weeks'   Southern   Quakers   and  Slavery,   p.    232. 

'^Trinity   Historical   Papers,   Vol.    10,   p.    37. 


10  James  Sprunt  Historical  Pubijcations 

free  territory  and  there  set  free.  In  1826  the  Quakers  were 
caring  for  600  slaves.^^  From  1825  to  1830  the  slave  holders  of 
North  Carolina  placed  in  the  hands  of  Quakers  hundreds  of 
slaves  on  condition  of  their  removal  to  Liberia.^^  Much  of  this 
work,  however,  was  undertaken  in  conjunction  with  the  Amer- 
ican Colonization  Society. 

The  Supreme  Court  held  in  the  case  of  Trustees  vs.  Dicken- 
son^'''  that  the  trustees  of  "the  Religious  Society  and  Congre- 
gation, usually  known  by  the  name  of  Quakers",  had  a  right 
to  receive  and  hold  property  for  its  own  benefit,  but  it  could 
not  hold  property  in  trust  for  another.  The  Court  held  that 
nothing  was  wanting  to' make  the  condition  under  which  Quakers 
held  slaves  complete  emancipation  except  the  name.  This  deci- 
sion was  rendered  in  1827  and  did  much  to  interrupt  the  "v^ork 
of  the  Religious  Society  and  Congregation  of  the  Friends  in 
their  efforts  to  abolish  slavery. 

One  would  not  be  justified  in  assuming  that  |he  numerous 
negro  insurrections  in  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  were  pri- 
marily responsible  for  the  legislative  enactment  concerning  free 
negroes  in  1830;  nevertheless  these  outbreaks  on  the  part  of  the 
negroes,  no  doubt,  influenced  the  action  of  the  legislature.  It  is 
more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  abolition  movement  which 
reached  the  State  certainly  by  1830^8  was  a  more  direct  cause. 
There  is  a  popular  conception  abroad  that  the  Southampton  Re- 
bellion in  Virginia  was  largely  responsible  for  the  stringent  anti- 
free  negro  legislation  of  the  year  1830.  Strangely  enough,  the 
negro  uprising  in  Sampson  and  Duplin  comities  took  place  in 
1831,29  and  the  Southampton  Rebellion  occurred  in  the  same  year. 
The  Southampton  Rebellion  marks  a  pronounced  change  in  the 
policy  of  Virginia  towards  the  free  negro,^*^  but  so  far  as  is  ascer- 
tainable, only  one  law  of  any  importance  (that  which  forbade 
negroes  to  preach) '^'^  was  enacted  in  North  Carolina  as  a  direct 
consequence  of  the  Southampton  Rebellion. 


^Atlantic   Monthly,   January,    1886. 

20  12    N.    C,    190. 

^^  Johns  Hopkins  Studies,  Vol.   27,   p.    189. 

''^Atlantic   Monthly,   January,    1886. 

2»Tarborough   Free   Press,    Sept.    20,    1831. 

^  Johns  Hopkins  Studies,   Vol.   31,   p.   452. 

^  Revisal  of   1855,   ch.    107,   p.   576. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  H 

As  1832  marks  the  turning  point  in  Virginia's  policy  towards 
the  free  persons  of  eolor,  just  so  the  year  1830  marks  the  be- 
ginning of  a  pronounced  change  of  policy  in  North  Carolina. 
Sweeping  aside  all  laws  and  clauses  of  laws  to  the  contrary,  the 
legislature  of  1830  passed  a  law,  which  on  account  of  its  signifi- 
cance is,  I  quoted,  verbatim : 

"Any  inhabitant  of  this  State  desirous  of  emancipating  a  slave  shall 
file  a  petition  in  writing  with  the  Superior  Court,  setting  forth  name,  sex 
and  age  of  said  slave  and  praying  permission  to  emancipate.  The  Court 
shall  grant  permission  on  the  following  conditions :  Petitioner  shall  show 
that  he  gave  public  notice  of  his  intended  action  six  weeks  prior  in  the 
State  Gazette  and  at  county  courthouse.  Petitioner  shall  enter  into  bond 
with  two  good  securities  payable  to  State  of  North  Carolina  in  the  sum 
of  $1,000  for  each  slave.  "^ 

The  bond,  of  course,  was  required  for  the  good  conduct  of 
the  slaves  as  long  as  they  remained  in  the  State,  and  to  insure 
their  departure  from  the  State  within  ninety  days  after  eman- 
cipation became  effective,  never  to  return. ^^  On  the  same  terms 
any  person  could  emancipate  his  or  her  slaves  by  will.^'* 

It  is  further  provided  (Sec.  4)  that  any  one  could  law- 
fully emancipate  any  slave  over  fifty  years  of  age  upon  petition 
filed  and  order  of  the  Superior  Court,  by  satisfying  the  Court 
that  said  slave  had  performed  meritorious  services  and  giving 
bond  in  the  sum  of  $500.  In  all  cases  if  an  emancipated  slave 
returned  to  the  State  he  could  be  arrested  and  sold,  or  if  he 
failed  to  leave  the  State  the  same  fate  awaited  him.  Action 
could  also  be  brought  against  the  bond  of  the  emancipator  and 
the  recovery  applied  to  the  support  of  the  poor.^^  The  claims 
of  creditors  had  to  be  satisfied  before  emancipation  was  com- 
plete, since  no  emancipation  could  work  to  invalidate  such  claims. 
This  law  remained  in  force  until  the  actual  emancipation  of  all 
slaves  in  North  Carolina  took  place ;  however  at  least  one  of  its 
most  drastic  features  was  frequently  evaded,  as  I  shall  take  oc- 
casion to  show  later. 


^  Reviml  of  1837,   ch.   Ill,   p.   585. 
^Ibid.,  ch.    Ill,   p.   585. 
^Ibid.,  ch.    Ill,    p.    585. 
^Revisal   of   1837,    ch.    Ill,    p.    586. 


12  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

The  law  of  1830  makes  three  notable  changes  in  the  old  pro- 
cess of  emancipation :  ( 1 )  the  substitution  of  perpetual  exile  for 
meritorious  service  for  all  slaves  under  the  age  of  fifty  years, 
(2)  the  requirement  of  a  written  petition,  and  (3)  a  transfer 
of  jurisdiction  from  the  county  courts  to  the  Superior  Courts 
of  the  State.  Despite  the  apparent  severity  of  the  law  govern- 
ing manumission  Booker  T.  Washington  in  his  book,  "The 
Story  of  the  Negro",  says  that  the  conditions  and  laws  relative 
to  the  Negro  in  North  Carolina  were  more  lenient  than  those  of 
any  other  Southern  State.  "With  the  exception  of  a  law  passed 
in  1861  which  forbade  the  emancipation  of  slaves  by  wilP^  there 
was  no  further  legislation  in  North  Carolina  with  reference  to 
the  emancipation  of  slaves. 

We  thus  see  that  the  State  discouraged  the  practice  of  manu- 
mitting slaves  by  making  it  both  expensive  and  troublesome. 
The  only  way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  to  send  slaves  out  of  the 
State  to  be  set  free.  Such  action  was  perfectly  legitimate,  pro- 
vided the  act  was  done  with  the  bona  fide  intention  that  they 
should  remain  out  of  the  State,^'''  and  in  the  case  of  Redding 
vs.  Long^s  the  Court  held  that  "a  deed  conveying  slaves  to  one 
in  trust  for  the  grantor  during  her  life  and  then  to  send  them 
to  Liberia  or  some  other  free  State  .  .  .  after  grantor's 
death  is  not  against  the  provisions  or  policy  of  our  statutes  on 
the  subject  of  slavery." 

Occasionally  the  legislature  assumed  the  responsibility  of 
emancipating  certain  slaves,^^  but  aside  from  the  regular,  vol- 
untary method  of  setting  slaves  free  without  remuneration,  many 
negroes  bought  their  freedom  for  a  specified  sum  of  money.  It 
frequently  happened  that  an  especially  industrious  and  ambi- 
tious negro  slave  hired  his  time  of  his  master  for  a  stipulated 
amount  of  money,  and  all  he  made  in  excess  of  that  amount  was 
set  aside  as  a  redemption  fund.  Lunsf ord  Lane  brought  his  free- 
dom in  this  manner.*^ 


^'^  Laws  of  North  Carolina,   Session   1860-61,   ch.   36,   p.  ^9. 

^'  Green   vs.   Long,   43   N.   C,    70. 

^^  34    Jones   Equity,    216. 

^  Laws,    1854-55,    ch.    108,    pp.    89-90. 

■**  Hawkins,  Life  of  Lunsf  ord  Lane. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  13 

It  seems  to  be  a  demonstrable  fact  that  wben  a  slave  owner 
voluntarily  set  his  slaves  free  without  remuneration,  they  were 
usually  sent  to  free  territory  but  instances  can  be  multiplied  of 
negroes  who  bought  their  freedom  and  remained  in  the  State, 
the  law  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Sam  Morphis,  a  free 
negro  of  Chapel  Hill,  who  earned  his  living  by  driving  a  hack, 
bought  his  freedom  and  continued  to  live  in  Chapel  Hill.^^ 
Dave  Moore,  another  slave,  bought  his  freedom  and  re- 
mained at  Chapel  Hill.'*^  Thomas  Gosset,  a  slave  black- 
smith of  Guilford  county,  bought  his  freedom  of  his  master 
about  the  year  1850  and  remained  on  the  same  plantation.'*^  It 
was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  a  negro  slave  to  buy  his  own 
freedom  and  then  bargain  for  and  procure  the  freedom  of  his 
wife  and  children  by  the  labor  of  his  hands. 

POLITICAL  RIGHTS 

As  Judge  Gaston  pointed  out,  in  the  celebrated  case  of  State 
vs.  Manuel*^,  that  under  the  British  Colonial  Government  in 
Carolina  there  were  only  two  classes  of  people  recognized  by 
the  law ;  namely,  citizens  and  aliens.  It  necessarily  followed  that 
the  native-born  free  negro  was  by  the  principle  of  jus  soli  a 
native-born  citizen  of  the  State.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  citizen, 
however,  did  not  necessarily  entitle  him  to  exercise  the  privilege 
of  the  franchise  except  by  suiferance  on  the  part  of  the  dom- 
inant race.  While  political  discrimination  against  the  free  per- 
son of  color  during  pre-revolutionary  times  was  not  so  pro- 
nounced as  it  was  in  1835,  we  find  very  little  evidence  which 
tends  to  show  that  the  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  voted  to 
any  considerable  extent  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War. 

In  the  instructions  of  the  Proprietors  to  the  Governor  of  the 
Province  in  1667,  he  was  ordered  to  hold  an  election  in  which 
all  freemen  should  help  to  choose  members  of  the  Assembly.  This 
order  on  the  part  of  the  Proprietors  was  modified  in  1734^^  so 
that  none  but  free  holders  could  vote;  but  not  until  1760  was 

"  Information  from  Mr.   John   Huskey,   an   old  citizen  of  Chapel  Hill. 

*^  This   was   also   told   me   by   Mr.    Huskey. 

^''J.   J.   Brittain,    Box   144,    Salem   Station,   Winston-Salem,   N.    C. 

■"20   N.    C,    144. 

«C.    B.,   Vol.    1,    p.    167. 


14  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

a  free  holder  defiiied.'*'^  In  that  year  a  freeholder  was  defined 
to  be  a  person  "who  bona  fide,  hath  an  estate  real  for  his  own 
life-time  or  for  the  life  of  another,  etc."  The  prescription  of  the 
property  qualification  for  voting  served  to  deprive  the  indigent 
free  negro  of  the  franchise.  One  would  hardly  feel  safe  in  say- 
ing that  the  free  person  of  color  voted  regularly  prior  to  1760. 
In  a  petition  of  the  colonists  to  the  crown  in  1703^'^  it  was  re- 
cited that  in  the  election  to  choose  members  of  the  General 
Assembly  "all  sorts  of  people,  even  servants,  negroes,  aliens, 
Jews  and  common  sailors  were  admitted  to  vote  in  elections." 
In  regard  to  this  election,  it  is  said  that  ' '  it  was  conducted  with 
very  great  partiality  and  injustice," — the  inference  being  that 
it  was  an  uncommon  occurrence  for  negroes  to  vote. 

The  framers  of  our  State  Constitution  of  1776,  imbued  with 
exalted  notions  concerning  the  rights  of  man,  provided  that 
every  freeman  with  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres  could  vote  for  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Senate,  and  that  every  freeman  who  had  paid 
public  taxes  could  vote  for  members  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Of  course,  under  the  terms  of  this  section  of  the  Constitution  a 
free  negro  was  entitled  to  vote;  but  it  is  hardly  fair  to  assume 
that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  were  especially  solicitous 
concerning  the  political  privileges  of  the  free  negro  when  they 
gave  the  ballot  to  all  freemen. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  negro  vote  in  the  State 
was  practically  negligible  except  in  a  few  counties,  such  as 
Halifax,^^  white  people  came  more  and  more  to  resent  the  par- 
ticipation of  the  free  negroes  in  politics.  They  had  been  dis- 
franchised in  the  neighboring  States,  Virginia  having  disfran- 
chised her  free  negroes  in  1723^^ ;  consequently  North  Carolina 
in  1835  was  the  only  one  of  the  slaveholding  states  that  allowed 
the  free  negro  to  exercise  the  franchise.  Lacking  in  intelligence 
and  correspondingly  venal,  the  free  negro's  support  of  any  as- 
pirant for  political  office  finally  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  sort 
of  reproach  to  the  candidate.^*^     It  was  asserted  in  the  Con- 


*^Ihid.,   Vol.    4,    p.    3. 

"Ibid.,   Vol.    1,    p.    639. 

*^ Political   Science   Quarterly,   Dec,    1894,   p.    626. 

*' Johns  RopTcins  Studies,  Vol.   31,  p.  418. 

^  Atlantic    Monthly,    January,    1886. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  15 

vention  of  1835  that  the  negro  vote  could  be  bought  with  "a 
little  to  drink  .  .  .  like  a  lot  of  poultry.  "^^  It  is  claimed 
that  the  free  negroes  lost  the  franchise  in  Granville  county  by 
persistently  supporting  Robert  Potter.  Robert  Potter  was  a 
notorious  politician  who  later  disgraced  himself  by  committing 
"a  brutal  mayhem  upon  two  of  his  wife's  relatives. "^- 

Indicative  of  the  general  attitude  of  the  white  people  toward 
the  negro  is  an  act  of  the  legislature  of  1832, — "an  act  to  vest 
the  right  of  electing  the  clerks  of  the  County  and  Superior 
Courts  in  the  several  counties  in  this  State  in  the  free  white 
men  thereof. ^^  No  mention  is  made  of  the  free  negro  as  being 
a  qualified  voter  in  this  election. 

In  1835  there  were  300  colored  voters  in  Halifax  county, 
150  in  Hertford,  50  in  Chowan,  and  75  in  Pasquotank. ^^  Of 
course,  there  were  colored  voters  in  many  other  counties  of  the 
State ;  however  the  free  negro  was  not  a  regular  voter  in  many 
western  counties,  notably  Iredell.  Mr.  King,  of  Iredell,  could 
not  recall  that  a  free  negro  had  ever  voted  in  his  county.^^ 

Many  broad-minded  men  in  the  Convention  saw  and  pointed 
out  the  injustice  of  depriving  the  free  negro  of  the  franchise 
when  "he  possessed  the  same  property  and  other  qualifications 
required  of  other  citizens,  "°^  and  to  correct  this  injustice 
amendments  were  offered  which  excepted  the  property-o'vvning 
class  from  the  general  operation  of  the  law  disfranchising  free 
negroes.  The  amendments  were  defeated  by  a  small  majority. 
In  the  main,  we  may  say  that  the  colored  voter  was  disfranchised 
on  grounds  of  expedience  rather  than  upon  the  grounds  of 
abstract  right. 

CIVIL  RIGHTS 

Before  the  establishment  of  an  independent  state  govern- 
ment in  1776,  not  many  laws  were  enacted  which  abridged  the 
civil  rights  of  the  free  negro.  As  a  British  subject  he  was  re- 
quired to  pay  the  same  tithes  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 

"^Debates   in    Convention,    1835. 

"^Wheeler,    Reminiscences,    p.    184. 

°^  Hoke    vs.    Henderson,     15    N.    C,    1. 

^* Political  Science   Quarterly,   December,    1894,   p.    676. 

'^Debates  in   Convention,    1835,   p.    353. 

^^  Ibid.,   p.    356. 


16  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Province.^^  In  1746  "all  negroes  and  mulattoes  bond  and  free 
to  the  third  generation  (extended  to  the  fourth  in  1776)  were 
disqualified  to  appear  as  witnesses  in  any  cause  whatsoever, 
except  against  each  other.^^  This  law  was  never  repealed.  While 
the  law  protected  a  white  man  against  one  of  the  fatal  weak- 
nesses of  the  negro  mendacity,  it  undoubtedly  gave  to  white 
people  an  undue  advantage  over  their  incompetent  neighbor, 
the  free  negroes. 

About  1787  a  series  of  laws  were  enacted  regulating  the  con- 
duct of  free  persons  of  color.  For  instance,  they  were  forbidden 
to  trade  with  slaves  in  property  of  any  kind^^  under  penalty 
of  £10  or  three  months  in  prison,  they  were  forbidden  to  enter- 
tain any  slave  in  their  houses  during  the  Sabbath  or  between 
sunrise  and  sunset,^°  and  in  the  towns  of  "Wilmington,  Washing- 
ton, Edenton  and  Fayetteville  free  negroes  were  required  to 
wear  a  badge  of  cloth  on  the  left  shoulder,  "and  written  there- 
on the  word  'Free'  ".  In  addition  they  had  to  register  with 
the  town  clerk  and  pay  a  fee  of  ten  shillings  three  days  after 
arrival  in  these  towns.^^  These  laws  were  passed  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  free  negroes  from  harboring  run- 
away slaves,  and  from  receiving  stolen  goods  from  slaves. 

The  first  law  making  it  a  criminal  offense  to  bring  slaves 
into  the  State  from  a  State  which  had  already  liberated  its 
slaves  was  enacted  1786.^^  The  law  fixed  a  penalty  of  £50  for 
each  slave  brought  in,  such  fine  to  take  the  form  of  a  bond 
as  security  for  the  removal  of  said  slave  to  the  place  from 
whence  he  came.  A  similar  law  was  passed  in  1826,^^  by  virtue 
of  which  a  free  negro  was  forbidden  to  enter  the  State  of  his 
own  accord  under  penalty  of  $500  or  a  period  of  ten  years  in 
servitude.  A  period  of  twenty  days  was  given  the  intruder  in 
which  to  leave  the  State.  This  law  was  passed  upon  recom- 
mendation of  Governor  Gabriel  Holmes,  who  became  alarmed 
at  the  return  of  a  large  of  free  negroes  from  Haiti,  at  which 


"^.    R.,   Vol.    23,    p.    262. 

^«Ibid.,  p.   262. 

^"S.    R.,   Vol.    24,    p.    956. 

^Ihid.,   p.    891. 

Bi/bid.,   pp.    728-729. 

''^Martin's  Revisal,  ch.   6,   p.   414. 

^^Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Session  of  1828-29,  ch.   34,  p.   21. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  17 

place  they  had  become  inoculated  with  ideas  of  freedom.  The 
Virginia  legislature  passed  a  law  in  1806,  banishing  all  free  ne- 
groes thereafter  set  free,^^  many  of  whom  came  to  North  Car- 
olina; however  no  action  was  taken  at  that  time  to  prevent  the 
free  negroes  from  Virginia  from  entering  the  State.  In 
order  to  protect  the  free  negro  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  liberty, 
the  State  legislature  made  the  act  of  kidnapping  and  selling  a 
free  negro  into  slavery  in  another  state  a  capital  offense  without 
benefit  of  clergy,^ ^  but  on  account  of  the  law  which  forbade  a 
negro  to  testify  against  a  white  man,  it  was  frequently  difficult 
to  prove  a  man  guilty  of  kidnapping.  A  rather  singular  fea- 
ture of  the  law  was  that  the  penalty  for  stealing  and  selling  a 
free  negro  within  the  bounds  of  the  State  could  not  exceed  a 
fine  of  $1,000  or  imprisonment  for  more  than  18  months. 

The  legislature  of  1830,  not  satisfied  with  the  task  of  mak- 
ing manumission  more  difficult,  proceeded  to  restrict  the  move- 
ments of  those  negroes  already  free  by  ordering  that  no  free 
negro  could  return  to  this  state  after  being  absent 
for  a  period  of  ninety  days  or  more.^^  Provision  was 
made  for  providential  hindrance.  This  law  served  a  double 
purpose ;  namely,  it  was  a  means  of  getting  rid  of  an  undesir- 
able element  of  the  population,  and  in  the  second  place  it  pre- 
vented the  dissemination  of  radical  ideas  concerning  freedom 
which  itinerant  negroes  might  bring  back  from  the  North  by 
reason  of  having  come  in  contact  with  abolitionists. 

For  the  purpose  of  protecting  a  free  person  of  color  in  the 
enjoyment  of  his  property,  the  legislature  extended  the  law 
respecting  insolvent  debtors  to  free  persons  of  color. '^'^  This 
law  was  repealed  in  1841.^  ^  ij;^  ^^q  same  year  (1811)  the  rating 
of  a  free  negro  with  respect  to  citizenship  was  further  dis- 
counted by  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  excluded  him  from 
the  ranks  of  the  State  militia  except  in  the  capacity  of  musi- 
cian.^^     A   rather  singular  situation   prevailed.     Here  was   a 


'^  Johns   Hopkins   Studies,   Vol.    31,    p.    418. 

'^Martin's  Revisal,   ch.    11,    Laws   of    1779. 

^'^  Revisal   of    1837,    ch.    34,    p.    208. 

'^'' Lavjs    of   North    Carolina,    Sesssion    of    1841,    ch.    30,    p.    61. 

"^  Eevisal   of   1855,    ch.    802,    p.    1196. 

^^  Revisal  of  1855,   ch.   828,   p.   1218. 


18  James   Sprunt   Historical  Publications 

class  of  people  who  paid  public  taxes  and  voted,  but  were  not 
allowed  to  bear  arms  in  defense  of  their  State. 

On  account  of  the  difficulty  of  collecting  taxes  from  many 
free  negroes,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  very  little  property 
which  could  be  levied  on,  the  General  Assembly  in  1828  re- 
quired a  person  on  whose  land  free  negroes  resided  to  "pay  a 
poll  tax  on  the  same  residing  there  with  their  consent."'''^  By 
act  of  the  legislature  of  1831,  when  a  free  person  of  color  was 
convicted  of  a  criminal  offense  and  was  unable  to  pay  the  fine, 
he  should  be  hired  out  to  any  person  who  would  pay  the  fine  in 
exchange  for  the  negro's  services  for  the  shortest  length  of 
time — not  to  exceed  five  yearsJ^ 

it,  In  1838  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  North  Carolina 
the  constitutionality  of  one  of  the  special  laws  applicable  to 
a  particular  class  of  so-called  citizens  was  tested  in  the  case  of 
State  vs.  Manuel. '''2  Manuel,  a  free  negro  of  Sampson  county, 
was  convicted  of  assault  and  battery  and  fined  $20.00  by  the 
court.  Upon  declaring  his  inability  to  pay  the  fine,  he  was 
sentenced  to  be  hired  out  according  to  law;  whereupon  he  took 
an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina.  Judge 
Gaston  in  a  lengthy  and  able  opinion  stated  two  important  prin- 
ciples: (1)  that  the  free  person  of  color  was  a  citizen  of  North 
Carolina,  and  (2)  that  the  law  requiring  free  negroes  to  be 
hired  out  in  certain  cases  was  constitutional.  It  had  been  argued 
with  much  show  of  reason  in  the  Convention  of  1835  that  the 
free  negro  was  not  a  citizen,  mainly  for  the  reason  that  he  was 
not  free  to  move  from  State  to  State.  Setting  aside  this  argu- 
ment. Judge  Gaston  demonstrated  that  the  right  of  suffrage  did 
not  necessarily  accompany  citizenship.  After  postulating  that 
''all  free  persons  born  within  the  State  are  born  citizens  of  the 
State,"  he  proceeded  to  show  that  the  removal  of  the  disability 
of  slavery  would  automatically  work  to  make  a  citizen  of  a 
slave  born  within  the  State.  He  justified  the  unusual  mode  of 
punishment  prescribed  for  a  particular  class  of  citizens  on  the 
ground  that  the  legislation  was  given  a  large  grant  of  power 
in  the  suppression  of  crime,  and  by  reason  of  this  fact  it  could 

''"Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Session  1828-29,  ch.  34,  p.  21. 
''^Bevisal  of  1837,   ch.   Ill,   pp.   591-592. 
"20   N.   C,    144. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  19 

discriminate  as  between  different  classes  of  citizens,  for  what 
would  constitute  a  punishment  for  one  class  of  citizens  might 
not  be  a  punishment  for  another. 

On  the  case  of  State  vs.  Newson'''^  which  was  decided  in  1844, 
the  constitutionality  of  the  law  forbidding  free  negroes  to  own 
or  carry  weapons  was  tested.  Judge  Nash,  who  rendered  the 
opmion  of  the  Court,  took  occasion  to  refer  to  the  case  of  State 
vs.  Manuel,  saying  in  part,  that  the  hiring  out  of  free  negroes 
introduced  a  different  mode  of  punishment  in  the  case  of  a 
colored  man  and  a  white  man  for  the  same  offense,  thereby  in- 
ferring that  such  punishment  was  in  contravention  of  the  third 
article  of  our  State  Constitution,  which  forbids  the  granting  of 
"exclusive  or  separate  emolument  .  .  .  but  in  considera- 
tion of  public  services."  In  concluding  his  opinion  he  justified 
the  discriminating  character  of  the  laws  addressed  to  the  free 
negro  by  saying  that  they  "are  not  to  be  considered  citizens  in 
the  largest  sense  of  the  word." 

Notice  has  been  taken  of  the  fact  that  a  quietus  was  put  on 
negro  preachers  in  1831.  The  rights  of  the  free  person  of  color 
were  further  circumscribed  during  the  forties.  For  example, 
it  was  made  unlawful  to  sell  spiritous  liquors  to  such  people, 
except  on  prescription  of  practicing  physicians  for  medicinal 
purposes.'^ -^  The  marriage  of  a  free  negro  and  a  slave  was  abso- 
lutely prohibited  by  law,"^  and  a  free  negro  was  not  allowed 
to  bear  arms  or  to  have  weapons  in  his  possession  unless  he 
had  a  license  from  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions.'''^ 
However  restrictive  this  legislation  may  appear,  it  is  not  com- 
parable to  many  laws  on  the  same  subject  enacted  in  Virginia. 
Free  negroes  could  not  own  slaves  in  North  Carolina  until 
1861.'"  They  were  not  only  forbidden  to  own  a  gun  in  Vir- 
ginia, but  they  were  likewise  forbidden  to  own  a  dog.'^^  After 
1832  free  negroes  were  not  allowed  benefit  or  trial  by  jury  in 
Virginia,  while  in  North  Carolina  this  fundamental  right  was 
never  abridged. 

"27   N.    C,    250. 

''*  Laws  of  North   Carolina,   Session    1858-59,   ch.    31fi   p.    71. 

''^  Revisal  of  1855,  ch.   107,  p.  577. 

''"Ibid.,  ch.   107,  p.  577. 

"Laws   of   North    Carolina,    Session    1860-61,    ch.    37,    p.    69. 

''^  Johns  Hopkins   Studies,   Vol.   31,   p.    418. 


20  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

One  might  seriously  inquire  as  to  what  remained  of 
the  civil  rights  of  the  hybrid  citizen,  known  in  legal  parlance  as 
the  free  person  of  color,  save  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  road 
duty,  and  the  poll  tax  requirement.  In  answer  to  this  inquiry, 
I  quote  a  portion  of  Governor  Graham's  letter  to  Holderby 
written  in  1866 : 

Free  negroes  have  always  been  regarded  as  freemen  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  as  such,  entitled  to  the  privilege  of  habeas  corpus,  trial  by 
jury,  ownership  of  property,  even  slaves,  to  prosecute  and  defend  suits  in 
courts  of  justice  .  .  .  and  to  prove  by  their  own  oath,  even  against 
white  men  accounts  to  the  amount  of  sixty  dollars  for  work  and  labor  done 
on  goods  sold  under  the  Book  Debit  Law.'* 

To  the  foregoing  let  me  add  an  excerpt  from  Governor 
Worth's  message  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1866: 

Such  rights  as  were  accorded  to  the  free  colored  people  of  North 
Carolina  were  ever  most  scrupulously  observed  and  maintained.  For 
ages  it  had  been  a  most  ignominous  offense  to  kidnap  .  .  .  or  to  en- 
deavor to  enslave  a  person  of  African  descent  who  was  free.  .  .  . 
In  all  criminal  accusations  tried  by  jury,  he  was  allowed  the  rights  of 
challenge  and  other  safeguards  of  the  common  law.  Property  was  acquired 
and  held  by  them  with  all  the  privileges  of  transfer,  devise  and  descent.*" 

After  all  has  been  said,  the  lot  of  the  free  negro  in  North 
Carolina  was  a  hard  one.  He  had  very  little  to  strive  for — ^no 
high  and  worthy  goal  spurred  his  ambition.  The  avenues  of 
opportunity  were  closed  by  legal  and  social  restrictions ;  conse- 
quently he  passed  among  the  white  people  for  a  sort  of  worth- 
less incubus  on  society.  Had  the  old  slavery  regime  survived 
a  few  years  longer  it  is  probable  that  all  the  free  negroes  would 
have  been  compelled  to  leave  the  State,  or  at  least  an  attempt 
to  expel  them  would  have  been  made.  During  the  session  of  the 
legislature  of  1858-59  two  bills,  one  originating  in  the  House 
and  the  other  in  the  Senate,  were  introduced,  providing  for  the 
removal  from  the  State  of  all  free  persons  of  color  by  January 
1,  1860,  or  the  enslavement  of  those  who  remained. 


"  The  Daily  Sentinel,  February   8,    1866. 

^Ibid.,  January  20,    1866. 

*^  Bills  found  in  the  Weeks  Collection,  U.  N.  C.  Library. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  21 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  STATUS 

Socially  the  free  negro  was  supposed  to  take  a  little  higher 
rank  than  the  slave ;  however  not  every  slave  would  acknowledge 
the  social  supremacy  of  his  free  brother.  The  attitude  of  envy 
and  sometimes  of  contempt  for  the  "old  issue,"  as  the  free 
negro  was  commonly  called,  was  probably  encouraged  by  the 
slave  owners,  who  wished  to  discourage  the  association  of  the 
two  classes  of  negroes.  It  has  already  been  noted  that  free  ne- 
groes were  finally  absolutely  forbidden  to  marry  slaves,  and 
amongst  other  laws  designed  to  prevent  a  too  great  intimacy  be- 
tween free  negroes  and  slaves,  there  was  one  which  forbade 
them  to  gamble  with  one  another.^^  jj^  spite  of  the  laws  de- 
signed to  prevent  social  intercourse  between  the  two  classes  of 
negroes,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  clandestine  association,  espe- 
cially in  the  towns.  Mr.  John  Huskey,  an  old  citizen  of  Chapel 
Hill,  recalls  the  time  when  the  magistrate's  court  in  Chapel  Hill 
was  crowded  with  offenders  against  the  gambling  law.^^  It  was 
a  common  occurrence  on  Monday  morning  to  see  a  group  of  these 
offenders  led  out  into  the  bushes  and  there  given  thirty-nine 
lashes.  The  relation  between  free  negroes  and  slaves  was  prob- 
ably more  cordial  in  the  towns  than  in  the  country.  Occasion- 
ally a  free  negro  married  a  slave,  and,  indeed,  a  slave  wife  was 
often  preferred  on  account  of  the  fact  that  she  was  supported 
by  her  master. 

Free  negroes  and  white  people  were,  of  course,  forbidden 
to  marry  on  any  terms  ;^^  at  the  same  time  there  are  many  well- 
known  instances  of  illicit  cohabitation  between  free  negro  men 
and  white  women.  0.  W.  Blacknall  tells  the  story^^  of  a  white 
woman  in  Granville  county  who  contrived  to  circumvent  the 
law  prohibiting  her  marriage  to  her  negro  lover  by  having  a 
portion  of  his  blood  injected  into  her  veins.  She  could  then 
swear  that  she  had  negro  blood  in  her  veins.  The  free  negro 
women,  especially  the  single  ones,  were  mercenary,  and  the  fact 
that  55%   of  the  free  negro  population  of  North  Carolina  in 


^\Revisal   of    1837,    ch.    Ill,    p.    .590. 

^  A  considerable  mimber  of   free  negroes  lived  in   the   town   of  Chapel  Hill. 

^  Laws   of  North    Carolina,   Session    1830-31,    ch.    4,   p.    9. 

^  Atlantic   Monthly,   January,    1886. 


22  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

1860  consisted  of  mulattoes^^  is  very  good  evidence  that  the 
moral  standard  of  many  white  men  was  decidedly  low. 

The  poor  white  man  was  ever  an  object  of  contempt  in  the 
sight  of  the  free  negro.  ' '  Big  white  folks  are  all  right,  but  poor 
white  folks  ain't  no  better  than  us  niggers."  Such  was  the 
general  opinion  the  colored  citizen  held  of  his  indigent  white 
neighbor. 

As  a  rule,  the  Quakers  were  much  more  cordial  in  their  re- 
lations with  the  free  people  of  color  than  was  any  other  element 
of  the  white  population  in  the  State.^'''  Rev.  J.  W.  Wellons, 
of  Elon  College,  N.  C,  relates  an  interesting  experience  he  had 
in  attempting  to  preach  to  a  group  of  free  negroes  in  Randolph 
county  many  years  before  the  Civil  War.  The  free  negroes  re- 
ferred to  were  known  as  Waldens.  They  owned  considerable 
land  and  were  withal  respectable  farmers.  The  Quakers  had  al- 
lowed them  to  sit  in  the  congregation  with  the  white  folks,  and 
also  to  come  to  the  white  "mourner's  bench."  On  the  par- 
ticular occasion  in  question,  Reverend  Mr.  Wellons  assigned 
them  a  certain  space  in  which  to  sit,  and  invited  them  to  a 
separate  "mourner's  bench,"  whereupon  they  became  insulted, 
raised  their  tents,  and  left  the  camp  meeting.  As  a  rule,  the 
free  negroes  did  not  attend  church,  possibly  for  the  reason  that 
in  nearly  all  the  churches  they  had  to  sit  with  the  slaves. ^^ 

There  are  no  available  figures  which  show  the  percentage 
of  crime  and  criminals  among  the  free  colored  people  as  com- 
pared to  the  slaves.  The  fact  that  their  criminal  record  was 
sometimes  pointed  out  as  an  argument  against  the  general  eman- 
cipation of  slaves,  does  not  indicate  that  they  were  any  worse 
than  the  slaves.  The  slave  owners  always  regarded  the  free 
negro  with  suspicion  because  he  was  known  to  be  in  sympathy 
with  the  desire  of  the  slaves  to  be  free;  he  might  aid  slaves  in 
planning  a  revolt,  in  running  away  from  their  masters  and  in 
disposing  of  stolen  goods. 


*^  Atlantic    Monthly,    January,    1886. 

*'  Rev.  J.  W.  Wellons,  Elon  College,  N.  C.  Mr.  Wellons  witnessed  the  execution 
of  Nat  Turner  in   1831. 

^*  Pleasant  Grove  Churcli  in  Randolph  county  contained  a  reservation  for  free 
negroes. 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina 


23 


A  glance  at  the  table  on  the  opposite  page  will  show  that  the 
counties  of  Halifax,  Wake,  Craven,  Robeson,  Granville  and  Pas- 
quotank had  the  heaviest  free  negro  population, — Halifax  lead- 
ing with  2,452.  Probably  the  largest  group  of  free  negroes  to  be 
foimd  in  North  Carolina  was  the  exclusive  "old  issue"  settle- 
ment known  far  and  wide  as  The  Meadows,  near  Ransom's 
Bridge  on  Fishing  Creek  in  Halifax  County.  The  people  still 
bear  the  appellation  "old  issue,"  and  are  heartily  detested  by 
the  well-to-do  negroes  in  the  adjoining  counties. 

The  United  States  Census  Reports  show  the  following  in- 
crease in  the  free  negro  population  of  North  Carolina,  beginning 
with  1790: 

1790  free  black  population    4,975 


1800  " 

I 

1820  " 

1830  " 

i 

1840  " 

i 

1850  " 

I 

1880  " 

I  i 

i  i 

..  7,043 
..10,266 
..14,612 
..19,543 
..22,732 
..27,463 
.30,463 


In  1816  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  memorial- 
ized Congress  to  set  apart  "a  certain  portion  of  the  United 
States,  situate  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  an  asylum  for  persons 
of  color  .  .  .  heretofore  emancipated  or  shall  hereafter  be 
emancipated  under  the  laws  of  this  State  or  any  other  State.  "^^ 
The  Federal  Government  was  to  provide  free  transportation. 
Of  course,  no  action  was  taken;  but  the  petition  throws  light 
on  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  North  Carolina  in  1816  with  ref- 
erence to  the  emancipated  negroes.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
never  was  a  time  that  the  people  of  North  Carolina  would  not 
have  rejoiced  to  see  a  wholesale  exodus  of  the  free  colored  pop- 
ulation from  the  State. 

The  pronounced  indolence  and  shiftlessness  of  the  free  negroes 
led  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  respecting  idleness  and  vagrancy 
among  this  class  of  people,  and  provided  for  the  hiring  out  of 
any  free  negro  convicted  of  idleness  for  a  term  of  service  and 
labor  not  to  exceed  three  years  for  any  single  offense.^*^ 

*"  Hoyt,    Murphey    Papers,    p.     61. 
^^  Revisal  of  1837,  ch.   Ill,  p.   588. 


24 


James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 


FREE  NEGROES  BY  COUNTIES  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA- 1860 


Alamance    422 

Alexander    24 

Alleghany    33 

Anson  152 

Ashe    142 

Bertie    319 

Bladen    435 

Brunswick   260 

Buncombe    Ill 

Burke    , 221 

Cabarrus    115 

Caldwell  114 

Camden    274 

Carteret   153 

Caswell    282 

Catawba    32 

Chatham    306 

Cherokee    38 

Chowan    150 

Cleveland    : 109 

Columbus     355 

Craven    1,332 

Cumberland    109 

Currituck     223 

Davidson    149 

Davie    161 

Duplin    371 

Edgecombe    389 

Forsyth 218 

rranklin    566 

Gaston    Ill 

Gates    361 

Granville    1,123 

Greene    154 

Guilford    693 

Halifax 2,452 

Harnett    103 

Haywood   14 

Henderson   85 

Hertford    1,112 

Hyde    257 

Iredell    26 


Jackson    6 

Johnston    195 

Jones    113 

Lenoir 178 

Lincoln 81 

McDowell    273 

Macon    115 

Madison  17 

Martin   451 

Mecklenburg   293 

Montgomery    46 

Moore    184 

Nash    687 

New  Hanover  640 

Northampton    659 

Orange    528 

Onslow   162 

Pasquotank   1,507 

Perquimans   395 

Person    318 

Pitt  127 

Polk    106 

Eandolph   432 

Eichmond    345 

Robeson   1,462 

Rockingham    409 

Rowan    136 

Rutherford    123 

Sampson    488 

Stanly    45 

Stokes    86 

Surry 184 

Tyrrell   143 

Union   53 

Wake    1,446 

Warren  402 

Washington  299 

Watauga    81 

Wayne    737 

Wilkes    261 

Wilson   281 

Yancey  67 


The  Free  Negro  in  North  Carolina  25 

How  did  the  free  negroes  employ  their  time?  While  there 
were  exceptions,  the  majority  of  the  free  colored  people  hired 
themselves  to  work  for  white  people  for  a  daily  wage,  others 
became  blacksmiths,  tinkers,  barbers,  farmers,  small  merchants 
and  fiddlers.  In  almost  every  community  there  was  a  free  negro 
well-digger  or  ditcher.  Where  they  could  rent  land,  many  of 
them  attempted  farming  on  a  small  scale  in  connection  with 
their  work  as  wage  earners.  Free  negro  women  usually  made 
better  house  servants  than  slave  negro  women  and  were  conse- 
quently frequently  employed  in  that  capacity. '^^ 

With  practically  no  education,  and  with  very  little  incentive 
to  accumulate  property  in  any  of  its  forms,  one  is  not  surprised 
to  learn  that  the  free  negroes,  in  the  words  of  an  old-timer, 
"never  amounted  to  much." 

This  paper  would  not  be  complete  without  reference  to  a 
few  notable  free  negroes  who  achieved  distinction  in  the  State 
and  nation.  Lunsford  Lane,  the  slave  of  Mrs.  Haywood,  of 
Raleigh,  bought  his  freedom  and  then  went  North  to  collect 
funds  with  which  to  buy  his  wife  and  children.  On  returning 
to  the  State,  he  began  to  negotiate  for  the  purchase  of  his  fam- 
ily, but  before  he  could  effect  their  release  from  bondage  he 
was  forced  to  leave  the  State.  Not  content  to  leave  his  wife 
and  children  in  North  Carolina,  he  came  back  a  second  time 
on  the  assurance  of  influential  friends  that  he  would  not  be 
molested.  Upon  his  arrival  in  Raleigh,  he  was  arrested,  tried 
and  acquitted  of  being  an  abolition  lecturer.  He  was  subse- 
quently tarred  and  feathered,  but  on  leaving  the  State  the  sec- 
ond time  he  carried  his  family.  He  later  became  famous  as  an 
abolition  lecturer. ^2 

John  Chavis  is  another  famous  free  negro.  He  was  a  regular 
ordained  minister  until  1832,  when  as  a  result  of  Nat  Turner's 
Rebellion,  all  colored  preachers  were  silenced.  After  1832  he 
followed  the  teaching  profession  with  signal  success,  conducting 
schools  in  Wake,  Chatham  and  Granville  counties,  and  num- 
bering among  his  pupils  such  prominent  men  as  Governor 
Charles  Manly,  Priestly  Mangum,  son  of  Senator  Mangum,  and 

81  Reverend  J.  W.  Wellons,   Elon   College,   N.   C. 
"^  Hawkins,   Life  of  Lunsford  Lane. 


26  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Mr.  James  H.  Horner,  founder  of  the  Horner  School.  He  seems 
to  have  had  a  very  successful  theory  of  teaching  the  English  lan- 
guage, and  his  school  was  reputed  to  be  the  best  preparatory 
school  in  the  state  at  that  time.^^ 

John  C.  Stanley,  another  prominent  free  negro,  began  work 
as  a  barber  and  eventually  acquired  several  plantations  and 
sixty-four  slaves.^'*  Lewis  Sheridan,  a  successful  negro  farmer 
and  business  man,  the  owner  of  nineteen  slaves,  was  regarded 
by  Judge  Samuel  Wilkeson,  of  New  York,  as  a  man  of  high 
character,  moral  worth  and  mercantile  ability.^^ 

Other  free  negroes  worthy  of  special  mention  are  James  D. 
Sampson,  John  Good,  of  New  Bern,  and  Henry  Evans,  a  full- 
blooded  free  negro  from  Virginia,  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  who 
founded  the  Methodist  Church  in  Fayetteville  during  the  late 
eighteenth  century. 

After  taking  into  account  the  entire  policy  of  the  State  rela- 
tive to  the  free  negro — a  policy  characteristic  of  the  entire  South, 
one  feels  that  in  many  respects  it  was  a  mistaken  one.  For  in- 
stance, should  not  the  State  have  provided  for  the  education  and 
general  uplift  of  its  free  negroes?  While  there  were  no  laws  to 
prohibit  the  teaching  of  free  negroes,  the  State  did  not  adopt 
any  positive  measures  for  training  them  in  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship ;  consequently  they  remained  for  the  most  part  in  abject 
and  vicious  ignorance.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  history  of 
reconstruction  in  North  Carolina  would  have  a  brighter  aspect 
had  there  been  an  enlightened  element  of  negroes  as  a  nucleus 
around  which  the  great  mass  of  freedmen  could  have  arrayed 
themselves.  Instead  of  being  led  by  carpet-baggers,  they  could 
have  had  the  leadership  of  conservative,  law-abiding  negroes, 
already  instructed  in  the  duties  of  citizenship. 


^^  The    Southern    Workman,   February,    1914. 
^*  Johns  Hopkins  Studies,  1899,   p.   360. 
'^  Ibid.,  Vol.   37,   p.   35. 


SOME  COLONIAL  HISTORY  OF 
CRAVEN  COUNTY 


BY 
FRANCIS  H.  COOPER 


SOME  COLONIAL  HISTORY  OF  CRAVEN 
COUNTY 


Before  we  can  -understand  or  know  the  history  of  one  comity, 
it  is  necessary  to  have  a  general  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the 
colony  or  State.  So,  before  writing  the  history  of  Craven  comity 
during  the  colonial  period,  I  deem  it  necessary  first  to  give  a 
brief  history  of  North  Carolina  before  1707. 

Carolina  before  1663  belonged  to  Sir  Robert  Heath,  who 
had  promised  to  help  settle  it.  He  did  not,  however,  make  any 
efforts  toward  settlement.  So  in  1663  Carolina  was  given  to 
eight  Lords  Proprietors,  who  were  to  settle  it  and  govern  the 
settlers  as  they  saw  fit.  These  proprietors  were  the  Duke  of 
Albemarle,  Lord  Craven,  Lord  Ashley ;  Sir  John  Colleton,  Lord 
John  Berkley,  Sir  William  Berkley,  Lord  Clarendon,  and  Sir 
George  Carteret.  They  immediately  met  and  set  up  a  plan  of 
government  for  Carolina.  They  also  said,  and  had  it  made 
known  to  the  public,  "that  freedom  should  be  enjoyed  by  the 
colonists,  and  that  for  the  five  years  next  following  every  new 
settler  should  receive  one  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  fifty  in  ad- 
dition for  each  servant  that  he  brought  into  the  colony,  subject 
only  to  the  payment  of  a  half  penny  per  acre.  There  was  also 
entire  exemption  granted  from  the  payment  of  any  custom 
dues.  "2 

The  first  people  that  we  are  sure  settled  in  Carolina  came  in 
1656,  but  we  have  a  reason  to  believe  that  there  were  settlers  in 
Albemarle  before  then.  We  find  Roger  Green,  a  Clergyman, 
petitioning  for  and  obtaining  ten  thousand  acres  of  land  for 
the  first  one  hundred  persons  who  should  settle  themselves  on 
the  Roanoke  and  south  of  the  Chowan.^  This  was  in  the  year 
1653.  Again,  in  1651  we  find  a  party  of  the  people  who  lived 
south  of  Norfolk  making  an  entrance  by  the  Currituck  inlet, 
touring  Carolina.  First  they  explored  Roanoke  where  Raleigh's 
first  colony  was,  then  proceeded  to  the  Tuscarora  Indians,  whom 

^  This  paper  was  awarded  the  second  prize  in  the  Colonial  Dames  contest  for  1916. 
^  Hawks,   History  of  North  Carolina,  p.   70. 
3  Hawks,   Vol.   II,   p.    70. 


30  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

they  attached  to  the  interest  of  the  English.  After  meeting  the 
Tuscaroras  they  journeyed  southward  and  came  in  contact  with 
the  Neuse,  Haynokes  and  Core  Indians,  who  dwelt  on  the  shores 
of  the  Pamlico  and  Neuse  rivers.^  It  is  probable  that  they  came 
inland  as  far  as  the  present  Craven,  or  Colonial  Craven  County. 
In  1660  the  people  from  New  England  attempted  to  settle 
on  the  Cape  Fear  River  but  failed.  In  1664  a  group  of  men 
landed  on  Cape  Fear  from  Barbados,  intending  to  make  it 
their  home,  but  they  were  also  unsuccessful.  At  this  time 
there  were  two  counties  in  Carolina,  Albemarle  County  on  the 
North  and  Clarendon  on  the  South,  including  the  Cape  Fear 
region.  Between  these  two  counties  there  was  a  region  including 
the  Neuse  and  Tar  Rivers,  later  known  as  Bath  County,  but 
at  this  time  unsettled  save  for  the  Indians  and  nearly 
equally  wild  northern  hunters.^  In  fact  I  have  been  able  to 
find  the  record  or  name  of  but  one  settler  in  the  territory  which 
later  became  Colonial  Craven  County  who  came  before  1707. 
That  one  was  Mr.  James  Blount,  who  came  from  Virginia  in 
1664.*^  Although  he  is  the  only  one  we  know  of  directly  it  is 
certain  that  there  were  others  who  had  penetrated  from  Albe- 
marle or  had  come  from  Bermuda  and  settled  there  before  1707. 
In  1676  Thomas  Eastchurch  was  made  commander  in  chief  of 
the  settlements  on  the  Pamlico  and  Neuse  rivers.  At  this  date 
undoubtedly  there  were  a  few  settlers  on  the  Neuse,  and  these 
were  stragglers  from  Albemarle.  Most  of  the  people  who 
settled  in  Carolina  before  1707  were  either  fugitives  of  religious 
persecution  from  New  England  and  Virginia,  or  were  fugitives 
of  the  law  who  came  from  Virginia  and  the  Bermudas  to  escape 
from  the  hand  of  justice.  Dr.  Hawks  says,  ''The  region  south 
of  Albemarle  as  far  down  as  the  Neuse  and  Pamlico  derived  the 
larger  part  of  its  first  inhabitants  from  the  counties  between  the 
Sound  and  Virginia."'^  But  before  these  commenced  their  mi- 
gration there  were  some  whites  there,  but  not  English.  Martin 
says  that  in  1690  the  French  Protestant  refugees  on  the  James 
River  bought  land  on  the  Pamlico  and  settled  there.     In  1698 

*  Ibid.,  p.   71. 

^Ibid.,    p.    6. 

°  Wheeler's  Men  and  Memories  of  North  Carolina,  under  Craven  County. 

7  Hawks,  Vol.  II,  p.   84. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  31 

the  whites  from  Albemarle  made  settlements  on  the  Pamlico. 
The  Indians  in  that  region  just  before  the  whites  came  had  been 
killed  by  a  plague,  thought  to  have  been  the  smallpox.^  But 
with  all  these  settlements  there  were  but  about  5,000  whites  in 
North  Carolina  in  1698.^  Soon  after  this  migration  in  1698 
to  the  Pamlico  River  the  English  settled  the  present  town  of 
Bath.  This  was  the  first  incorporated  to'wn  in  the  prov- 
ince. Forty-two  years  had  elapsed  between  the  first  settlement 
and  the  first  town  in  North  Carolina.  This  was  due  largely 
to  the  fact  that  the  people  were  given  to  farming,  and  their 
products  were  delivered  directly  from  the  field  to  the  boat. 

In  1707  the  first  settlement  that  we  are  sure  of  was  made 
in  Craven  Comity.  A  colony  of  French  Huguenots,  encouraged  by 
William  III,  in  the  year  1690,  had  come  to  America  and  settled 
at  Manakin  Town,  Virginia,  above  the  falls  of  the  James  River. 
They  were  not  satisfied  with  the  land  that  they  first  occupied 
and  moved  southward,  one  group  in  1690,^'^  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  settled  on  the  Pamlico.  In  1707  another  group  moved 
southward  and  settled  on  the  Trent  and  Neuse  Rivers,  mostly 
on  the  Trent  in  Craven  county,  near  where  the  old  comit}^ 
bride  stood,  ^^  which  was  not  over  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
site  of  the  present  bridge.  With  these  French,  who  w^ere  a 
sober,  frugal,  industrious  people,  and  who  in  a  short  time  became 
independent  citizens,  came  their  minister,  Phillipe  de  Riche- 
bourge.^^  Some  of  his  deceudants  still  live  in  the  county  of 
Buncombe.  And  WiUiamson  says  that  Rymbourg  came  with 
them,  12  i3|j^  }^Q  must  have  stopped  on  the  Pamlico.  After  a 
short  time  Richebourge,  with  a  portion  of  his  people,  proceeded 
farther  south  and  planted  himself  on  the  Santee  River,  where 
he  died. 

There  are  plainly  two  causes  that  brought  the  early  settlers 
to  North  Carolina.  First,  the  land  was  fertile  and  free ;  second, 
because  freedom  of  worship  was  promised.  Not  only  religious 
people  came  to  North  Carolina,  but  also  outlaws  and  debtors 


*  Ibid.,  p.   84. 

^Ibid.,  p.    85. 

"Williamson,    History   of   North    Carolina,    p.    178. 

^^Vass,    History   of   Presbyterian    Church   and    Craven    County,   p.    49. 

inVilliamson,   p.    178. 


32  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

came.  These  mixed  and  we  are  not  surprised  that  in  a  short 
time  we  do  not  find  the  settlers  of  North  Carolina  religious,  after 
having  adapted  themselves  to  a  new  country,  new  manners  and 
ways,  and  mixed  the  best  with  the  worst.  In  fact  they  had  ways 
of  their  own.  But  these  people  were  not  allowed  to  rest  in 
peace  long  before  an  attempt  was  made  to  persecute  them  in 
their  new  homes. 

As  we  have  seen,  Carolina  was  given  to  the  Lord  Proprietors 
and  they  promised  freedom  of  worship  to  settlers ;  also  Charles 
II  said,  ''that  the  Church  of  England  should  be  the  church  of 
the  province.  Yet  that  toleration  should  be  allowed  to  all  other 
sects  so  long  as  they  did  not  trouble  the  government  or  insult 
the  Church."  These  were  the  intentions  of  the  Proprietors  and 
the  King,  but  they  were  unfortunate  in  picking  men  for  gov- 
ernors of  the  province. 

The  first  of  these  governors  that  I  shall  mention  was  Stephens, 
(1667).  He  did  not  try  to  force  the  English  Church  on  the 
people,  but  he  did  forbid  them  to  pay  debts  made  before  coming 
to  North  Carolina.  He  also  tried  to  force  "Locke's  Constitu- 
tion" on  them.  They  resisted  it,  however,  until  1775.  In  1677 
came  the  Culpepper  Revolt.  Then  came  the  rule  of  Seth  Sothel. 
He  broke  off  the  trade  with  the  Indians  for  his  own  private 
gain.  He  seized  and  confiscated  without  a  shadow  of  cause 
cargoes,  negroes,  cattle,  plantations,  and  even  pewter  dishes  were 
not  exempt  from  his  rapacious  hands.  He  upheld  men  of  bis 
OAvn  type,  and  there  was  no  justice  in  court.  In  1704  Governor 
Daniels  came  over.  He  was  determined  to  establish  the  Church 
of  England  in  the  Province  but  had  little  success.  He  Avas 
governor  only  one  year  before  Cary  came  as  governor.  Cary 
was  determined  to  rule  the  colony.  He  ruled  for  a  short  time 
when  Glover  came  over  as  governor.  He  did  not  intend  to  give 
up  his  office  and  he  brought  about  the  Cary  Rebellion,  which 
we  shall  touch  upon  later. 

In  1664  that  part  of  the  country  between  Albemarle  and 
Clarendon  was  made  into  a  county  by  the  name  of  Bath.  And 
in  1705  Bath  was  divided  into  three  precincts.  Craven  being  in- 
cluded in  the  Archdale  precinct. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  33 

CRAVEN  COUNTY,   SITUATION,   CLIMATE,   SOIL,    PRO- 
DUCTS AND  TRADE 

The  present  Craven  county  lies  in  the  eastern  part  of  North 
Carolina,  on  the  Neuse  and  Trent  Rivers.  It  has  an  area  of 
about  417,950  acres  and  is  bounded  by  the  counties  of  Carteret, 
Pamlico,  Jones,  Pitt,  Beaufort,  and  Lenoir.  It  is  considerably 
smaller  now  than  at  the  close  of  the  year  1775. 

In  1664  the  territory  between  Albemarle  and  Cape  Fear  was 
named  Bath.  In  1705  Bath  county  was  divided  into  precincts. 
That  part  of  the  country  between  the  Neuse  and  Pamlico  Rivers, 
together  with  the  settlements  on  both  sides  of  Neuse,  was  called 
Archdale  precinct.  This  precinct  included  the  present  Cravea 
county  and  more.  At  this  time  there  were  about  five  thousand 
inhabitants  in  the  whole  province.  The  coming  of  the  Frencli, 
Swiss,  and  Germans  to  Archdale  precinct,  or  Craven  county, 
made  Archdale  the  most  populous  precinct  south  of  Albemarle. 
In  1713  the  population  of  the  whole  province  was  not  more  than 
three  thousand,  the  Indian  war  having  driven  the  people  away. 
But  in  1715  we  find  the  whole  province  to  have  about  eleven 
thousand  two  hundred  inhabitants.  There  were  7,500  whites 
and  3,700  negroes.  In  fact  the  population  had  increased  in 
such  numbers  since  1713  that  the  Lord  Proprietors  found  it 
necessary  in  order  to  govern  the  people  and  in  order  to  estab- 
lish the  Church,  to  divide  each  of  the  three  counties  into  pre- 
cincts and  parishes.  Bath  was  divided  into  three  or  four  pre- 
cincts or  parishes.  That  part  on  the  Neuse,  Trent,  and  Bear 
Rivers,  and  their  branches,  formerly  Archdale  precinct,  was 
named  Craven  precinct  or  parish,!^  after  Lord  Craven,  one  of 
the  Proprietors.  The  population  gradually  increased  in  Craven 
precinct.  In  1729  all  the  province  was  purchased  by  the  crown 
with  the  exception  of  Carteret's  part.  The  royal  authority 
changed  the  term  of  precinct  to  county,  giving  each  the  colonial 
county  government.  Craven  county  consisted  of  the  territory 
on  the  Neuse,  Trent,  and  Bear  Rivers  and  their  tributaries.  It 
seems  as  if  there  was  no  limit  to  the  western  part  of  the  county. 


■C.  R.  Vol.  II,  p.207. 


34  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

I  suppose  that  it  extended  as  far  back  as  the  source  of  the 
Neuse.  In  1733  Edgecombe  county  was  formed  out  of  part  of 
Craven  county.^^  In  1746  Craven  county  was  divided  by  a  line 
beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Southwest  Creek  and  extending  up 
the  creek.  The  northern  part  became  Johnston  county. ^^  In 
1764  the  northern  part  of  Craven  was  added  to  Dobbs  county 
and  later  a  part  to  Pitt.  About  this  time,  by  the  petition  of  the 
people  of  that  part  of  Beaufort  lying  between  Bay  River  and 
Lower  Broad  Creek,  that  part  of  said  county,  became  a  part 
of  Craven  county.  So  we  see  that  from  the  year  1733  the  bound- 
aries of  Craven  county  were  steadily  decreased  and  one  time 
increased,  so  they  were  nearly  the  same  as  now  plus  those  of 
Jones,  and  part  of  Pamlico. 

The  climate  of  Craven  is  changeable  but  good.  The  soil 
runs  from  the  sandy  soil  in  the  fields  to  the  black  of  the  river 
valleys.  In  its  productiveness  it  is  unsurpassed,  both  for  agri- 
culture and  stock  raising.  Hawks,  speaking  of  the  eastern  part 
of  North  Carolina,  particularly  of  Colonial  Carteret  and  Craven 
counties,  says,  "While  from  the  Virginia  line  down  to  the  sea 
coast  in  Carteret,  the  region  of  the  first  settlers  was  wonder- 
fully productive.  The  swamps  and  stream  banks  [Craven  is  full 
of  such  streams  and  banks]  are  full  of  oak,  cypress,  gum,  cedar, 
ash,  maple,  and  walnut  trees.  The  pasturage  was  excellent 
and  the  oxen  grew  to  a  great  size  and  were  used  for  beef.  Heif- 
ers increased  so  rapidly  that  in  a  short  time  people  found  them- 
selves owners  of  hundreds  of  cattle  and  beeves.  The  hog  in- 
creased greatest  being  fed  from  acorns  and  nuts  found  in 
the  woods.  Sheep  thrived,"  Indeed  Craven  was  a  rich  terri- 
tory. Life  was  made  easy  by  nature,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wond- 
ered at  that  with  such  existing  natural  advantages  and  freedom 
as  Craven  afforded  that  the  oppressed  of  other  countries  and 
colonies  sought  abodes  there. 

The  people  of  Craven  county  at  first  only  traded  with  New 
England  and  Virginia,  but  soon  with  the  West  Indies  and  Eu- 
rope.   Indeed,  ships  left  New  Bern  direct  for  France  and  Eng- 


^*  Handbook  of  North  Carolina,  1879,  p.   67. 
^O.   R.,  Vol.   XXIII,   p. 248. 
^^Ibid.,  p.   48. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  35 

land  before  1776.  I  expect  that  Craven  county  had  as  much  if 
not  more  trade  than  any  other  colonial  county  of  North  Carolina. 
The  chief  products  were  beef,  pork,  tallow,  hides,  deerskins  and 
furs,  corn,  peas,  tobacco,  cotton,  hemp,  tar,  pitch,  turpentine, 
rice,  and  flour.  To  Virginia  went  the  greater  part  of  our  to- 
bacco, in  exchange  for  articles  needed.  To  New  England  and 
the  Bermudas  went  the  greater  part  of  our  products  in  exchange 
for  rum,  sugar,  salt,  molasses  and  some  wearing  apparel.  To 
Europe  went  our  naval  stores.  Indian  corn,  and  naval  supplies 
were  our  greatest  exports.  So  great  an  amount  of  Indian  corn 
was  being  shipped  from  New  Bern  in  1776  that  Tryon,  fearful 
that  the  supply  would  give  out,  proclaimed  that  no  more  should 
leave  until  after  four  months  from  date.  This  corn  went  to  the 
North  and  to  the  West  Indies.^'  AYe  had  a  good  trade  "^vith 
the  North  and  "West  Indies.  The  harbors  at  New  Bern  were 
never  seen  without  a  ship  from  one  of  these  places  waiting  for 
cargoes.  Craven  county  was  on  the  post  road  from  Suffolk,  Vir- 
ginia, to  South  Carolina.  The  roads  of  Craven  were  bad,  but  not 
so  in  comparison  with  those  of  other  comities.  Indeed,  Colonial 
Craven  county  was  an  ideal  place  of  abode. 

SWISS  AND  GERMAN  PALATINES 

Craven  county,  or  Archdale  precinct,  as  it  was  then  known, 
has  the  distinction  of  having  the  first  settlers  to  come  direct 
from  Europe  to  the  province.  And  this  colony  added  greatly 
to  the  population  of  the  province.  They  made  good  citizens 
and  were  welcomed  to  the  colony.  Fitch  says,  ''This  was  the 
first  important  introduction  into  the  eastern  section  of  the  prov- 
ince of  a  most  excellent  class  of  liberty-loving  people,  whose  de- 
scendants, wherever  their  lots  were  cast  in  our  country,  gave  il- 
lustrious proof  of  their  valor  and  patriotism  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  "^^ 

The  German  Palatines  came  from  the  Palatinate.  They 
came  also  from  Heidelberg,  and  its  vicinity. 


"C.   R.,  Vol.   VII,   p.   225. 

^^  Fitch  Some  Neglected  History  of  North   Carolina,  p.   26. 


36  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

The  colony  was  indebted  for  these  to  the  trouble  in  Europe 
in  1693.^^  This  trouble  was  religious  persecution.  The  Elector 
Palatine,  Frederick  III,  surnamed  ' '  the  -  pious, ' '  who  died  in 
1676,  was  one  of  the  purest  and  noblest  German  princes, — the 
German  Alfred.  He  was  devoted  to  the  advancement — 
political,  educational,  and  ecclesiastical — of  his  people. 
In  1685  the  successor  of  Frederick  died  and  the  house  of  New- 
bury, a  bigoted  popish  family,  came  in.  The  religion  of  a  prov- 
ince in  Germany  was  at  that  time  governed  by  the  religion  of 
the  ruling  prince,  or  in  other  words  the  people  had  to  recant 
every  time  a  new  prince  with  a  different  religion  came  on  the 
throne.  The  Palatinate  was  a  strong  Protestant  province,  and  in 
spite  of  the  invasions  of  1622,  1634,  1688,  ordered  by  the  pope, 
had  retained  their  faith  in  Protestantism  and  would  not  change. 
The  new  prince  in  1685  being  a  Catholic,  severe  pun- 
ishment was  brought  upon  them,  but  they  refused  to  recant. 
In  1688  Louis  XIV  of  France,  a  zealous  champion  of  the  pope, 
waged  war  on  and  invaded  the  Palatinate.  The  country  was 
devastated  and  the  people  turned  out  of  their  homes  because  they 
would  not,  or  could  not,  change  their  faith  every  time  the 
throne  was  occupied  by  a  new  prince.  They  with  their  neighbors 
from  the  near  vicinity,  to  the  number  of  many  thousand,  had 
to  seek  homes  in  foreign  countries.  Great  sympathy  was  felt 
for  these  poor  creatures,  whose  sin  was  merely  Protestantism. 2*^ 
The  Queen  of  England,  Anne,  pitying  their  condition  by  her 
proclamation,  in  1708,  offered  them  protection  in  her  dominicms, 
and  about  twelve  thousand  went  to  England  in  1708-1709.  De 
Graffenried  estimated  that  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  England 
more  than  twenty  thousand  had  come,  "but  intermingled  with 
many  Swiss  and  people  of  other  German  provinces.  "^^ 

About  this  time  Christopher  Emanuel  de  Graffenried  arrived 
in  England  and  with  him  a  friend,  Lewis  Mitchell.  Both  of 
these  men  were  looking  for  a  way  to  repair  their  fortune.    Mitch- 


"  Hawks,   Vol.   2,   p.86. 
20  Hawks,   Vol.   II,   p.   86. 
^^Vass,   p.   57. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  37 

ell  had  been  to  America  and  knew  something  of  it.  De  Graf- 
fenried  was  a  young,  handsome  and  fascinating  Swiss  noble- 
man and  was  a  favorite  of  Queen  Anne.  He  was  a  citizen  of 
Bern,  Switzerland,  and  the  elder  son  of  Antony  De  Graaffenried, 
Lord  of  Worb.  He  had  been  mayor  of  Yoerdon,  in  Neufchatel, 
under  the  commission  from  the  senate  of  Bern.  He  had  failed 
financially  and  went  to  England,  in  hopes  of  going  to  America 
to  build  up  his  fortune.-^  He  saw  a  chance  in  these  Palatines. 
He  and  Mitchell  acted  and  through  Mitchell's  influence  they 
determined  to  plant  a  colony  in  Carolina. 

They  bought  ten  thousand  acres  of  land  between  the  Neuse 
and  Cape  Fear  Rivers  and  their  branches.  They  paid  twenty 
shillings  sterling  per  hundred  acres  and  bound  themselves  for 
six  pence  yearly  per  hundred  acres.  In  addition  to  this  the 
Surveyor  General  was  to  lay  off  and  reserv^e  for  them  one  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  of  land  for  a  period  of  twelve  years.  And 
when  they  had  paid  for  five  thousand  acres  at  the  set  price  one 
of  them  was  to  be  gratified  by  a  title.  Graffenried  made  the 
purchase  and  was  made  Baron. -^  De  Graffenried  and  Mitchell, 
having  made  this  purchase,  naturally  wanted  settlers  for  their 
territory  so  as  to  make  it  pay  them.  The  Palatines  offered 
themselves  for  speculation.  The  Baron  and  Mitchell  knew  that 
Queen  Anne  would  help  pay  for  their  transportation  to  America. 
They  mentioned  it  to  the  Queen,  who  was  glad  to  help  the 
Palatines.  She  not  only  paid  for  the  transportation  of  them 
but  also  bestowed  gifts  to  the  amount  of  £4,000  sterling^^  on 
them.  Before  this,  commissioners  had  been  appointed  to  collect 
money  for  the  aid  of  the  Palatines.  Then  De  Graffenried  and 
Mitchell  made  an  agreement  with  the  Lord  Proprietors.  The 
result  was  that  De  Graffenried  and  Mitchell  agreed  to  transport 
ninety-two  families  of  the  Palatines,  nearly  six  hundred  and 
fifty  persons,  with  their  own  Swiss  colonists.  They  paid  only 
five  and  a  half  pounds  per  person  for  the  Palatines  that  they 
transported  to  North  Carolina,  or  about  $18,000.25  They  were 
also  to  give  to  each  family  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land 

^  Ibid.,  p.   53. 

23  Williamson,   p.    182. 

2^  Vass,   p.   57. 

23  Ibid. 


38  James  Spkunt  Historical  Publications 

and  the  first  five  years  free  from  charge,  but  every  year  after  the 
said  five  years  the  Palatines  were  to  pay  them  two  pence  lawful 
money  for  each  acre.^^  During  the  first  year  after  their  arrival 
they  were  to  be  furnished  grain,  provisions  and  other  things 
for  the  support  of  life.  They  were  to  pay  for  this  two  years 
after  their  arrival.  They  were  also  to  be  furnished  within  four 
months  after  their  arrival  with  two  cows  and  two  calves,  five 
sows  with  their  young,  two  ewe  sheep  and  two  lambs,  with  a  male 
of  each  kind.  These  were  to  be  paid  for  within  seven  years  after 
receiving  them.  They  were  also  to  be  furnished,  gratis,  tools 
and  implements  for  felling  trees  and  building  houses.^''' 

The  commissioners,  on  their  part,  for  the  Queen  agreed  to 
give  each  colonist,  young  and  old,  twenty  shillings  sterling  in 
clothes  and  money,  and  to  pay  De  Graffenried  and  Mitchell  five 
pounds  and  ten  shillings  a  head  for  transportation.^^  The 
money  of  the  poor  Palatines  was  given  to  De  Graffenried,  and 
if  they  received  any  of  it  it  was  only  a  small  portion.  This  agree- 
ment is  dated  October  1709. 

In  mild  weather  in  January,  1710,  after  prayer  they  set  sail 
for  America,  escorted  by  Read- Admiral  Noris  with  two  ships  as 
far  as  the  latitude  of  Portugal.  The  voyage  was  rough  and 
lasted  for  thirteen  weeks.  They  suffered  terribly  from  hunger, 
and  more  than  half  died  on  the  way  over.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  James  River  a  French  captain  plundered  one  of  the  vessels 
containing  the  best  goods.^^  Besides  many  dying  on  the  sea 
a  good  number  died  from  eating  and  drinking  too  much  raw 
fruit  and  water  after  landing.  Those  who  were  left  landed  in 
Virginia,  and  after  travelling  twenty  miles  or  more  by  land  they 
arrived  in  the  county  of  Albemarle  on  the  River  Chowan,  at  the 
residence  of  a  rich  settler,  Thomas  Pollock,  He  took  care  of 
them  and  supplied  them  with  all  necessities,  for  money.  He 
sent  them  across  the  sound  in  boats  and  into  the  county  of  Bath, 
where  they  were  located  April  or  May,  1710,  by  the  Surveyor- 
General,  Lawson,  on  a  tongue  of  land  between  the  Neuse  and 


2"  G.  R.,  Vol.  I,  p.  988. 

2'  Ihid. 

28  Hawks,   Vol.   II,   p.   87. 

»Vass,  p.  57  or  O.  B.,  Vol.  I,  p.  909. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  39 

Trent  Rivers,  called  Chattawka,  where  afterwards  was  founded 
the  small  city  of  New  Bern.^^ 

De  Graffenried  was  not  able  to  accompany  the  Palatines  be- 
cause he  had  to  meet  a  colony  of  his  own  people  of  Bern.  He, 
after  picking  out  the  best  and  healthiest  of  the  Palatines,  ap- 
pointed three  directors,  who  happened  to  be  then  in  London 
and  who  had  lived  already  several  years  in  Carolina.  One  was 
a  General  Receiver,  another  General-Surveyor,  the  third  a  Jus- 
tice of  Peace.  It  is  not  certain  that  the  three  sailed  with  them, 
but  we  know  that  the  General-Surveyor,  John  Lawson,  came 
with  them.  Lawson,  as  De  Graffenried  says,  "instead 
of  settling  these  poor  people  every  one  on  his  own 
plantation,  in  order  to  gain  time  and  enable  them  to 
clear  and  clean  out  their  lands,  located  them  in  his  own 
personal  interest  on  part  of  his  own  lands  on  the  southern  bank 
of  Trent  River  at  the  very  hottest  and  most  unhealthy  place." 
Furthermore,  he  sold  them  that  tongue  of  land  between  the 
Neuse  and  Trent  Rivers  at  a  heavy  price  when  he  had  no  claim 
to  it.^^  De  Graffenried  had  later  to  buy  it  from  the  Indian 
Chief  King  Taylor.  On  this  place  the  Palatines  remained  until 
September,  suffering  from  lack  of  food  and  other  necessities. 
In  fact,  they  were  forced  to  sell  their  clothes  and  other  things 
in  order  to  sustain  life. 

In  September  1710  De  Graffenried,  with  his  Swiss,  arrived 
in  Chattawka.  As  we  have  seen,  he  left  London  and  went  to 
New  Castle,  where  the  Swiss  joined  him.  The  Swiss  were  mostly 
from  Bern.  They,  too,  fled  from  religious  persecution.  They 
set  sail  from  Holland,  stopped  at  New  Castle  for  De  Graffenried, 
and  according  to  his  statement  he,  with  the  Swiss,  set  sail  for 
America  in  June  1710,  arriving  in  Carolina  about  the  middle  of 
September  of  the  same  year.  They  landed  in  Virginia  where 
De  Graffenried  was  offered  the  place  of  Governor  of  North 
Carolina  by  a  few  Carolinians.  They  took  nearly  the  same 
route  followed  by  the  Palatines,  stopping  at  Thomas  Pollock's 
home,  then  on  to  Chattawka. 


'C.   i?.,  Vol.   I,   p.    911. 
C.  R.,  Vol.  I,  p.  910. 


40  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Immediately  upon  his  arrival  he  assigned  each  Palatine  to 
his  portion  of  land,  and  within  eighteen  months  they  had  homes 
built  that  were  comfortable.  He  also  settled  Chattawka  after 
purchasing  it  from  the  Indians.  He  changed  the  name  to  New 
Bern  in  honor  of  the  birthplace  of  himself  and  Mitchell,  Bern 
in  Switzerland. 

In  1713  De  Graffenried  left  the  colony  and  went  back  to 
Europe.  He  took  with  him  not  only  the  money  entrusted  to 
him  by  the  commissioners  for  the  poor  Palatines,  but  also  he 
either  took  with  him  or  spent  before  he  left  America  eight  hun- 
dred pounds  sterling,  for  which  he  mortgaged  his  lands  and 
those  of  the  Palatines  to  Colonel  Thomas  Pollock  and  his  heirs. 
Pollock  offered,  after  the  mortgage  had  expired,  to  give  back 
the  land  if  De  Graffenried  would  pay  him  his  money,  which 
he  would  not  do.  The  Palatines  were  thus  left  on  the  land  of 
someone  else.  In  1714,  right  after  the  Indian  war,  which  they 
had  endured  fairly  well,  and  had  prospered  to  a  certain  extent 
and  increased  in  number,  they  petitioned  the  Lord  Proprietors 
that  each  family  might  take  up  four  hundred  acres  of  land  and 
might  be  allowed  two  years  to  pay  for  it.  This  was  granted 
to  them.22 

The  Palatines  and  Swiss,  both  industrious,  religious, 
mild  of  temperament,  established  in  Carolina  a  new 
spirit  of  freedom  and  formed  a  new  and  improved  society. 
Both  of  them  prospered  and  not  only  lived  in  Craven  county, 
but  increased  and  expanded  their  settlements  into  Jones  and 
Carteret  counties.  Descendants  of  these  Swiss  and  Pala- 
tines figured  greatly  in  the  early  history  of  North  Carolina. 
Some  of  them  held  the  leading  places  in  public  life.  Others 
were  renowned  for  their  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and 
the  events  leading  to  it.  I  have  in  mind  one,  Richard  Cogdell, 
a  Swiss,  who  held  offices  in  the  Assembly,  and  was  a  leader  in 
the  Stamp  Act  Riot  in  New  Bern,  1765.  Indeed,  their  value 
to  the  province,  in  either  a  political,  religious,  or  social  view 
cannot  be  overestimated. 


'Hawks,  Vol.  II,  p. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  41 

The  Palatines  and  Swiss  were  not,  however,  the  only  settlers 
Craven  received  in  the  year  of  1710.  In  this  year  a  colony  of 
Welsh  Quakers  settled  below  New  Bern,  on  Clubfoot  and  Han- 
cock Creeks  on  the  south  side  of  the  Neuse.  Among  these  were 
Thomas  and  John  Lovick,  later  promininent  men,  also  Koger 
and  Evan  Jones. 

Some  names  of  the  Swiss  and  Palatines  who  came  to  Craven, 
on  a  petition  to  the  queen,  ITll,-^-'^  and  some  are  still  familiar  in 
our  county  of  Craven  and  its  neighbors:  Eslar  (now  Isler), 
Renege,  Moor  (now  Moore),  Eiback  (Hypock)  our  present 
name  of  Ipock,  Morris,  Kensey,  Wallis,  Gernest,  Miller,  "Walk- 
er, Simons  (our  present  Simmons),  all  German.  Of  the  Swiss 
we  find  Coxdaile  (Cogdell),  from  whom  on  the  maternal  side 
descended  the  North  Carolina  branches  of  the  families  of  Stanly 
and  Badger. 

RELATIONS  WITH  THE  INDIANS 

At  first  the  people  of  North  Carolina  were  welcomed  by  the 
Indians,  especially  the  Tuscaroras,  because  of  the  rum  that  they 
brought  to  them.  Again  the  Indians  and  white  men  were  gain- 
ers in  each  one's  own  opinion  from  the  trade  carried  on  be- 
tween them.  In  fact  the  relations  with  the  Indians  were  as 
peaceful  and  profitable  to  the  whites  as  could  have  been 
desired  until  the  whites  alienated  them.  For  sixty  years 
the  Indians  and  whites  lived  together  without  war.  This 
was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Indians  who  lived  on  the  coast 
were  divided  into  many  small  tribes  without  any  powerful  con- 
federacy.^"* On  every  section  of  the  banks  there  was  a  tribe. 
They  had  a  plentiful  supply  of  sea  food  and  did  not  depend 
as  much  on  game  for  a  living  as  the  Indians  farther  inland. 
Therefore  they  did  not  realize  the  value  of  land,  nor  its  use 
until  after  the  whites  had  made  a  settlement  with  determination 
to  remain  in  Carolina.  Another  reason  is  that  at  first  the  whites 
came  without  any  forces  and  put  themselves,  in  a  manner,  on 
the  good  will  of  the  Indians  and  begged  instead  of  demanded 
land.     But  the  one  fault  of  the  white  man  in  dealing  with  the 


=^Vass,   pp.    70-71. 
^*  Williamson. 


42  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Indian  was,  as  I  have  mentioned  before,  the  selling  of  too  much 
rum  to  him.  In  1703  Daniels  attempted  to  put  a  stop  to  this  but 
with  little  success.35 

The  most  powerful  of  all  the  Indian  tribes  which  inhabited 
the  eastern  part  of  North  Carolina  was  the  Tuscaroras,  who 
lived  on  the  Taw  (or  Tar)  and  Neuse  Rivers  in  what  is  now 
Bertie  county  and  counties  south  of  Albemarle,  also  on  Pamlico 
River.  At  first  they  invited  the  whites,  but  soon  looked  on 
them  with  a  bitter  eye,  as  the  whites  took  more  and  more  of 
their  lands  and  mistreated  them  in  some  few  cases.  They  had 
in  all  twelve  hundred  men  or  warriors.  Besides  the  Tuscaroras 
southeast  of  the  sound  were  the  tribes  of  the  Neusicos,  Pamlicos, 
Cotechneys,  and  (nearer  the  ocean)  the  Woccons,  Maramiskeets, 
Matchapeengoes,  Hatteras,  Cores,  Croatans,  and  Bear  River  In- 
dians. The  whole  number  of  Indians  able  to  take  the  field  was 
about  sixteen  hundred.^^  The  Indians  who  lived  in  Craven 
county  were  mostly  the  Cores,  and  Neuse,  and  a  few  Tuscaroras 
and  Bear  River  Indians.  Lawson  says  that  owing  to  the  plague 
which  killed  many  of  the  Indians  north  of  the  Pamlico  River, 
the  Indians  were  the  thickest  on  the  Neuse,  Trent  and  Pam- 
lico Rivers. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Indians  first  came  in  contact  with 
the  white  man  in  1651,  when  a  party  from  below  Norfolk 
were  exploring  Carolina.  Next  the  hunters  came  in  contact 
with  them  on  the  Neuse  and  Trent  Rivers.  The  French  in  1707 
were  welcomed  by  the  Indians  in  Craven  county,  and  when  De 
Graffenried  and  his  colonists  came  they  received  a  warm  recep- 
tion at  the  hands  of  King  Taylor  and  his  warriors.  They  were 
met  by  this  chief  and  his  followers  at  what  is  now  the  foot  of 
South  Front  Street,  after  exchanging  greetings  both  parties 
went  under  two  live  oak  trees,  which  were  destroyed  in  1841  by 
fire,  where  De  Graffenried  and  King  Taylor  smoked  the  pipe 
of  peace.  Soon  they  made  a  treaty  and  De  Graffenried  pur- 
chased that  land  on  which  New  Bern  now  stands  from  this  chief. 
This  transaction  with  the  Indians  helped  to  save  the  life  of  the 
Baron  later.     The  Swiss  and  Palatines  took  them  in  trust,  gave 


^Ibid.,  p.   186. 

3«  Hawks,  Vol.  II,  p.  527. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  43 

them  work  in  their  homes  and  on  their  plantations  and  bought 
some  of  their  captives  for  slaves.  The  whites  of  New  Bern  and 
its  vicinity  even  took  the  Indians  and  gave  them  bedding  at 
night  and  food  when  they  came  to  obtain  provisions/^''' 

The  largest  portion  of  the  white  population  was  north  of 
Albemarle.  The  other  portion  was  to  be  found  in  and  about 
New  Bern,  over  the  country  intervening  between  it  and  Wash- 
ington, and  up  the  Pamlico  around  Bath,  in  Jones  on  the  Trent, 
then  part  of  Craven  precinct  or  Archdale  precinct,  and  in  Car- 
teret between  New  Bern  and  Beaufort.  The  Swiss  and  Ger- 
mans remained  in  and  around  New  Bern.-^^ 

Before  the  Swiss  arrived  in  New  Bern,  Cary  had  started  his 
rebellion.  He  made  so  much  trouble  that  the  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, Spotswood,  was  sent  to  for  aid.  Aid  was  sent  and  Cary 
was  captured  and  sent  to  England.  It  was  not  destruction  that 
Cary  and  his  followers  themselves  did  that  made  things  so  bad, 
but  their  influence  over  the  Indians  was  one  of  the  main  causes 
of  the  Indian  massacre  of  1711.  Cary  had  three  prominent 
adherents :  John  Porter,  Mr.  Moseley,  and  a  man  named  Roach. 
These  four  men  really  put  the  notion  of  rebellion  into  the 
minds  of  the  Indians.  Besides  the  influence  of  Cary  and  his 
adherents,  there  were  other  causes  that  brought  on  the  Indian 
massacre.  One,  as  De  Graffenried  says,  was  the  carelessness, 
negligence,  and  lack  of  precaution  on  the  part  of  the  Carolinians. 
Another  was  the  rough  treatment  of  some  of  the  turbulent 
Carolinians,  who  cheated  the  Indians  in  trade  and  wouldn't 
allow  them  to  hunt  near  their  plantations,  and  under  that  pre- 
tense took  away  from  them  their  game,  arms,  and  ammunition. 
They  even  killed  an  Indian.  This  incensed  them  most  of  all.^^ 
Another  was  that  the  Indians  by  this  time  had  begun  to  realize 
that  their  land  was  being  occupied  more  rapidly  every  day. 

The  Indians  could  not  stand  this  much  longer.  All  they 
wanted  was  a  leader.  They  found  him  in  the  chief  of  the  Tus- 
caroras.  He  divided  the  Indian  into  different  groups,  so  that 
many  settlements  could  be   attacked  at  the  same   time.     The 


^^  Old  Time  Stories  in  North  Carolina. 

^  Hawks. 

3^0.   R.,   Vol.   I,   p.   922. 


44  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Coteclineys,  who  lived  in  what  is  now  Green  county,  joined  the 
Cores  to  do  the  work  at  New  Bern  and  on  the  Neuse  and  Trent. 
The  Maramiskeets  and  Matehapungees  were  assigned  to  Bath 
and  its  vicinity.  The  work  on  the  Roanoke  and  Albemarle  the 
Tuscaroras  and  Meherrins  would  do.  The  strange  part  about  ^ 
this  confederacy  and  its  intentions  was  that  they  kept  them 
secret  so  that  they  were  not  known,  nor  was  any  evil  suspected 
of  them  until  its  purpose  was  accomplished. 

A  few  days  before  the  massacre  •  took  place  De  Graff enried 
and  Lawson,  accompanied  by  a  negro,  started  on  a  trip  up  Neuse 
River.  They  had  travelled  all  day  and  it  was  near  night  when 
they  were  surrounded  by  a  party  of  Indians  and  hurried  to 
Catechna,  King  Hancock's  town.  Here  they  were  cordially  re- 
ceived by  the  chief,  and  it  seems  as  if  the  three  would  have  been 
liberated  had  it  not  been  for  a  Core  Indian  reporting  to  the 
chief  some  minor  insult  that  he  had  received  from  Lawson. 
Furthermore,  the  Indians  held  Lawson  responsible  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  whites  and  for  their  taking  up  the  lands  of  the  reds. 
Lawson  and  the  negro  were  burned  at  the  stake.  De  Graffen- 
ried  made  the  reds  believe  that  he  was  the  King,  and  that  his 
death  would  be  avenged  by  other  whites  from  across  the  ocean, 
and  he  reminded  them  also  of  the  kindness  that  they  had  always 
received  at  the  hands  of  the  Swiss  and  Palatines,  and  that  he 
had  paid  for,  instead  of  stealing  their  lands.  He  was  liberated 
after  a  stay  during  which  he  saw  the  Christian  prisoners  brought 
in  from  Pamlico,  Neuse,  and  Trent.  Before  leaving  he  made  a 
treaty  with  them  which  guaranteed  the  Swiss  and  Germans  to 
be  free  from  the  Indian  wars  so  long  as  they  did  not  side  with 
the  other  whites  against  them  and  so  long  as  they  treated  the 
Indians  rightly. '*'* 

On  Friday,  September  twenty-first,  a  few  days  after 
the  departure  of  Lawson  and  the  Baron,  the  Indians,  as  they 
were  accustomed,  came  into  the  settlements  on  the  Pamlico, 
Neuse,  and  Trent, — only  in  larger  numbers.  The  settlers  did 
not  suspect  anything  wrong.  Just  before  daybreak,  Saturday, 
September  22,  1711,  the  massacre  began.     Houses  were  burned, 


*>0.  B.,  Vol.  I,  p.935. 


Caeolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  45 

cattle  driven  off,  people  captured  and  killed.  In  the  town  of 
New  Bern  it  was  not  so  bad  however.  The  people  fled,  leaving 
their  homes  and  goods  to  the  Indians,  yet  they  were  not  troubled 
as  the  people  in  the  vicinity.  In  and  around  New  Bern 
there  were  sixty  or  seventy  Palatines  and  Swiss  murdered  or 
captured.  Yet  the  people  of  New  Bern  were  not  harmed  half 
so  much  as  the  people  around  Bath.  This  massacre  lasted  for 
three  days  and  nights.'*^  It  must  have  been  the  past  conduct 
of  De  Graffenried  towards  the  Indians  that  saved  New  Bern, 
because  for  twenty-two  weeks  after  the  beginning  of  the  massacre 
New  Bern  stood  armless,  before  any  real  aid  came  to  the  relief 
of  the  people.  Then  when  the  colonists  were  on  the  point  of 
starvation,  the  Baron  went  to  Virginia  for  aid  and  sent  to  South 
Carolina  also  for  aid.  What  provisions  the  colonists  obtained 
were  from  the  Albemarle  section.  South  Carolina  was  the  first  to" 
respond.  Immediately  after  receiving  the  summons  for  aid  Col- 
onel Barnwell,  under  the  orders  of  the  governor,  with  eight- 
hundred  reds,  mostly  Yamasees,  and  about  fifty  militia  started 
for  the  Neuse  and  the  Trent.'^-  After  a  long  and  hard  march 
they  arrived  on  the  Neuse,  received  orders  at  New  Bern,  and 
marched  against  the  Indians  with  such  fury  that  they  retreated 
until  they  reached  a  strong  fort  which  they  had  erected  in  the 
upper  part  of  Craven  county.  In  addition  to  the  South  Carolina 
troops  there  were  two  hundred  Englishmen  and  fifty  Swiss  and 
Germans  under  Colonel  Mitchell.  Upon  reaching  their  fort  the 
Indians  received  reinforcements  and  made  a  stand  to  fight  the 
white.  Barnwell,  however,  assaulted  them  so  furiously  that  they 
were  defeated  with  great  slaughter.  Three  hundred  or  more 
were  killed  and  one  hundred  captured,  beside  the  wounded. 
The  Indians  retreated  into  the  fort  and  after  a  siege,  offered 
to  make  peace,  which  Barnwell,  to  his  and  the  colonists  sorrow, 
accepted.  Because  his  terms  were  light,  the  Indians  renewed  the 
war  immediately.  If  he  had  not  made  peace,  the  Indians 
would  have  been  completely  annihilated ;  for  Colonel  Mitchell, 
with  his  fifty  Swiss  and  Germans  had  raised  a  battery  within 
eleven  yards  of  the  fort  and  mounted  it  with  two  cannon.     He 


"Fitch,   p.   26. 

^O.  R.,  Vol.   I,   p.   934. 


46  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

also  surrounded  a  portion  of  the  palisade  with  combustibles  and 
was  ready  to  open  fire  when  peace  was  made.'*^ 

The  Indians  did  not  maintain  their  treaty  but  renewed  war 
almost  immediately.  Barnwell  returned  home,  and  the  colonists 
were  left  in  a  bad  situation.  Tom  Blunt,  through  the  efforts  of 
Colonel  Pollock,  was  attached,  with  a  few  of  his  followers,  to 
the  white  side.  In  the  latter  part  of  1712  Colonel  Moore  arrived 
with  aid  from  South  Carolina.  After  stopping  in  Craven  for 
a  short  time,  he  went  to  Albemarle.  On  the  20th  of  March,  1713, 
he  laid  siege  to  the  Indian  stronghold  Nahuck  in  Green  county. 
Here  he  struck  them  such  a  blow  that  they  never  recovered.  Soon 
after  this  siege  the  Indians  scattered,  and  in  1715  the  remaining 
Tuscaroras  left  the  State  and  went  to  join  their  kinsmen,  the 
Iroquois.^^ 

From  1717  the  relations  with  Indians  in  Craven  county  were 
merely  those  of  master  and  slave,  in  fact,  very  few  remained  in 
the  county.  Craven,  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  however, 
furnished  her  share  of  the  militia  which  went  to  help  Washing- 
ton, under  Waddell  and  Innes,  but  which  was  sent  back  by 
the  governor  of  Virginia. 

The  results  of  the  Indian  massacre  and  war  of  1711  to  1713 
were  that  the  colonists  in  Craven  were  captured  or  driven  from 
their  homes,  to  which  some  returned.  Most  of  their  stock,  pro- 
visions, and  homes  were  destroyed.  Indeed,  it  was  a  great  dis- 
couragement to  the  young  colonists.  However,  they  stood  it  and 
were  pleased  when,  by  a  petition,  they  received  lands  of  their 
own. 

After  they  became  settled  and  had  schools  for  their  children, 
they  attempted  with  some  success  to  educate  and  Christianize 
their  old  enemies,  the  Indians. 

RELIGION 

The  first  inhabitants  of  Craven  county  were,  as  we  have 
seen,  only  the  hunter  and  straggling  parties  of  Englishmen  from 
Virginia  and  New  England.    Their  aim  in  coming  to  North  Car- 


«  Hawks,   Vol.  II,  p.  539. 
^Ibid.,  549. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  47 

olina  was  partly  religious  freedom.  But,  they  did  not  bring 
with  them  ministers,  and  after  remaining  in  the  changed 
surroundings  for  a  number  of  years  they  lost  all  of  their  former 
rites  and  worshipped  God  in  their  own  way.  A  minister  in 
Carolina  was  regarded  with  as  much  curiosity  as  we  would  re- 
gard an  infidel  today.  These  people  who  first  came  to  Carolina 
were,  before  coming,  Puritans,  Quakers,  and  other  dissenters. 

In  1707  the  first  real  religious  settlers  came  to  Craven  county, 
the  second  such  group  that  came  to  North  Carolina.  They  were 
the  French  Protestants,  who  had  fled  from  France  for  the  one 
purpose  of  freedom  of  worship.  They  were  of  the  Calvinist 
faith.  They  brought  with  them  their  minister,  Claude  Philippe 
de  Richebourg.  They  were  allowed  at  first  the  same  privileges 
as  the  English,  but  soon  the  English  became  jealous  of  them  and 
of  their  right  to  vote.  This  right  was  then  taken  away  from 
them.  They  were  religious  and  attempted  to  Christianize  the 
Indians  with  some  success. 

The  next  settlers  to  come  into  Craven  county  were  the  Swiss 
and  the  Palatines.  These  came  also  for  the  purpose  of  religious 
freedom,  they  belonged  to  the  reformed  Church  of  Calvinists, 
and  part  of  them  were  doubtless  Lutherans.  They  were  stout 
Christians.  Therefore,  in  Craven  county  there  were  three 
groups  of  colonists,  including  the  Swiss,  who  were  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  who  were  firm  believers  in  the  church  and  in 
Protestantism,  while  no  other  precinct  or  county  had  more  than 
one.  Therefore,  Craven  county  was  settled  by  more  people  of 
the  church  than  any  other  county.  It  was  the  center  of  religion 
as  it  was  the  center  of  education  and  wealth,  as  we  shall  see  later. 
During  the  colonial  period  there  were  many  other  colonists  who 
came  and  settled  in  Craven.  These  were  English,  and  a  group 
of  Germans  in  1732. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Proprietors  promised  freedom  of  wor- 
ship to  all  settlers  and  the  king  promised  toleration  to  all  dis- 
senters. Again,  we  have  seen  that  the  Proprietors  desired  to 
establish  the  English  Church  in  Carolina,  and  some  of  the  gov- 


48  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

ernors  attempted  to  carry  out  the  desires  of  the  Proprietors.  In 
order  to  do  this  more  easily,  by  the  Vestry  Act  of  1705/-^  the 
province  was  divided  into  nine  parishes.  In  1701  it 
had  been  divided  into  precincts.  Craven  lay  in  St.  Thomas 
parish.  In  1705  Archdale  parish  was  made,  which  included 
the  whole  of  Craven  county, ^°  But  since  there  were  but  few 
inhabitants  in  the  Archdale  parish,  no  steps  were  taken  towards 
the  establishment  of  the  church.  In  1715,  owing  to  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  province  in  population,  it  was  again  divided  by 
a  new  Vestry  Act.  Archdale  precinct  became  Craven 
parish,  which  contained  the  territory  around  the  Neuse 
and  Trent,  and  to  this  all  the  southern  settlements  of  the  prov- 
ince were  assigned,  ''Until  further  divisions  were  made."  This 
time,  by  the  Act,  twelve  vestrymen  and  a  minister  were  ap- 
pointed for  each  parish  -.^"^ 

Craven  Vestrymen 

Col   Tom   Brice  Richard   Graves  Thomas   Smith 

Major  Wm.  Hancock        Daniel  McFarlin  Jos.  Bell 

John   Nelson  John   Smith  Martin   Frank 

John  Slocumb  John   MaeKey  Jacob    Sheets 

These  laymen  were  bound  under  oath  and  penalty  according 
to  the  laws  of  England  for  vestrymen  in  that  kingdom.  Each 
one  was  also  required  to  subscribe  to  a  declaration  that  it  was 
not  lawful  on  "any  pretense  whatsoever  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  king,"  and  ''not  oppugn  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land as  it  is  by  law  established. ' '  These  vestrymen,  having  thus 
qualified  themselves  to  act,  chose  from  their  number  two  to  act  as 
wardens  for  a  year.  The  statute  enjoined  the  laymen  to  do  their 
best  to  get  good  ministers,  and  authorized  them  by  a  tax  per 
poll,  not  to  exceed  five  shillings  each  on  every  taxable  in  the 
parish,  to  raise  for  the  minister  a  salary  of  at  least  fifty  pounds 
annually.  But  there  was  a  proviso,  that  to  entitle  himself 
to  his  salary,  he,  the  minister,  should  reside  in  his  parish  and 
not  be  absent  over  six  Sundays,  without  a  leave,  in  a  year.  He 
also  had  to  perform  all  marriage  ceremonies  in  the  parish.^^ 


^  DeRossett,   Church  Hist,  of  North  Carolina,  p.  162. 
*"  O.  R.,  Vol.   XXIII,   p.   6. 
«  O.   i?.,   Vol.   XXIII,   p. 6. 
« Hawks,  Vol.  II,  p.   170. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  49 

These  two  acts  were  not  the  only  two  acts  passed  to  fasten 
on  an  unwilling  people,  by  effective  legislation,  an  Episcopal 
establishment  with  an  adequate  support  by  taxation.  Other 
acts  were  passed  in  1715,  1741,  1754,  1759,  1764-65.  Taxes 
were  imposed  for  purchasing  ample  glebes,  building  comfortable 
churches,  and  paying  stipends  to  ministers,  all  of  the  establish- 
ment. 

At  first  there  were  two  classes  who  did  not  go  by  these  laws : 
Quakers,  to  whom  nothing  at  first  was  done,  were  allowed  to  hold 
meetings,  but  on  account  of  oath  these  were  kept  from  holding 
public  office.  Soon  however,  these  were  made  to  pay  church 
taxes  and  to  comply  with  the  other  laws.  Protestant  dissenters 
who  came  from  England  or  the  colonies  in  North  Carolina  were 
permitted  to  hold  meetings,  if  in  public,  to  be  subject  to  all  the 
English  statutes  touching  the  toleration  of  dissenters  in  the 
mother  country.  They  were,  however,  in  a  short  time  deprived 
of  the  right  of  holding  meetings,  or  of  organizing. 

There  were  many  different  sects  in  Craven  county.  First 
were  the  Puritans,  who  came,  as  before  stated,  from  England, 
and  also  a  large  number  from  New  Jersey.  They  came  from 
1707  steadily  until  after  the  war.  Yet,  they  were  never  organ- 
ized or  established  in  the  county.  The  next  were  the  Quakers. 
The  first  large  settlement  of  these  came  in  1710.  They  did  not 
organize,  but  were  "God-fearing"  Quakers.  They  were  perse- 
cuted by  being  kept  out  of  office,  and,  by  all  calamities  that  be- 
fell the  province  being  laid  to  the  Quakers  as  the  people  re- 
sponsible. Presbyterians  were  strong  in  Craven.  The  French 
were  the  first  Presbyterians  in  the  county,  and  some  of  the  Swiss 
believed  with  them.  This  sect  was  strengthened  by  the  Scotch- 
Irish  who  wandered,  few  in  number,  into  Craven  county.  They 
did  not  have  a  church,  but  attended  services  with  any  denom- 
ination. They  were  moderate,  industrious,  and  progressive,  es- 
pecially in  education.  On  Christmas  eve,  1739,  Rev.  George 
Whitefield  arrived  in  New  Bern.  He  preached  there  in  the 
court  house  a  sermon  that  made  the  congregation  melt  in  tears. 
He  was  much  grieved  at  the  encouragement  of  dancing  by  the 


50  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

ministers  there.  In  November,  1764,  he  again  visited  New  Bern. 
Here  he  met  with  what  were  called  New  Lights,  or  Presbyterians, 
in  great  numbers. ^^  They  were  in  the  lead  in  number  in  1765 
and  were  strong  during  the  whole  colonial  period.  There  were 
many  Methodists  in  the  county,  but  not  organized.  After  New 
Bern  was  in  a  district  and  visited  by  Methodist  preachers,  about 
1773,  this  sect  increased  rapidly.  James  Reed,  the  minister  of 
the  Established  Church,  says  in  a  letter  that  he  is  trying  to  keep 
the  Methodists  down  but  meeting  with  little  success.  He  also 
said  that  the  greater  part  of  the  dissenters  came  from  the  North, 
and  that  they  tried  to  run  down  the  English  Church.  This 
was  about  1763.  The  Methodists  were  of  the  more  ignorant 
class.  They  did  not  organize  until  after  the  war.  Catholics 
were  few  in  number.  In  fact,  there  were  not  over  ten  in  the 
whole  county.^^  The  Baptists  came  early  in  Craven  county, 
and  were  strong.  In  1740  they  organized  and  asked  permis- 
sion, in  the  form  of  a  petition,  to  be  allowed  to  build  a  church 
in  New  Bern.  This  request  was  granted,  but  Purefoy  and 
Slede  were  imprisoned  for  presenting  a  petition  to  the  court.^^ 
But  more  probably  they  were  imprisoned  for  charges  of  unlaw- 
fulness that  had  been  before  this  time  presented  against  them. 
This  act  was  the  only  one  of  its  kind  in  North  Carolina,^^  ^p. 
held  by  the  Toleration  Act,  intended  for  the  punishment  of  the 
Catholics.  The  Baptists  were,  however,  severely  persecuted  in 
Craven  county  but  they  increased  all  the  more  from  it.  They 
did  not  build  a  church  until  after  1776. 

The  Established,  English  or  Episcopal  Church  v/as,  as  we 
have  seen,  supported  by  taxation.  This  was  the  only  sect  in 
Craven  county  who  were  really  organized  and  had  a  church. 
From  1701-76  this  church  or  religion,  by  the  different  Acts  be- 
fore mentioned  was  forced  upon  the  people.  By  the  Act  of  1740 
a  tax  of  one  shilling  and  six  pence  was  laid  on  each  taxable  in 
Craven  parish.^^  Their  church  was  not  completed  until  1751  or 
later.    The  first  minister  of  the  English  Church  that  I  can  find 


*^  Vass  p.   79. 

^O.  R.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  265. 

"Vass,  p.  83. 

^^  DeRossett,  or  Ashe,  Vol.  I. 

"  C.  R.,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  141. 


Carolina  axd  Cra\t:x  County  or  Precinct  51 

any  trace  of  was  the  Eev.  John  Lapierre,  who  was  ousted  from 
New  Hanover  by  Mr.  Marsden.  He  went  to  New  Bern  about 
1735  and  remained  until  his  death  in  1755.^-^  He  was  not 
engaged  as  a  minister  there  by  the  lajnnen,  although  it  is  prob- 
able that  he  held  meetings.  This  is  proven  by  an  Act  of  1741°° 
which  enabled  the  laymen  to  spend  the  minister's  salary  on 
the  church  since  they  had  not  employed  a  minister.'''^  By  the 
Act  preceding  Craven  county  was  made  a  parish  with  the  name 
of  "Christ  Church  parish."  In  1753  the  Rev.  James  Reed,  who 
was  a  man  of  fine  character,  who  was  interested  in  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  to  the  people,  who  did  more  than  any  other  man 
in  Craven  county  towards  the  establishment  of  the  public  school, 
especially  the  New  Bern  Academy,  who  in  every  way  tried  to 
help  the  progress  of  Craven  county,  came  and  settled  in  New 
Bern.  Here,  during  the  same  year,  he  preached  in  the  church 
ever}'  evening  and  at  several  of  his  chapels  in  the  county.  The 
vestrymen  liked  him  so  well  that  in  1751  they  made  an  agree- 
ment with  him,  which  was  passed  by  the  Assembly.  This  agree- 
ment provided  for  the  payment  of  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  pounds,  six  shillings,  and  eight  pence  proclamation 
money  to  him  annually,  so  long  as  he  continued  to  hold  services 
at  New  Bern  and  to  attend  the  several  chapels  (which  were 
eight)  in  the  county,  according  to  the  terms  of  said  agreement.°^ 
Mr.  Reed  remained  in  Craven  county  until  his  death,  which 
was  after  the  Revolution.  During  this  time  he  did  much  towards 
establishing  the  people  in  the  faith  of  the  English  Church. 
The  people  of  Craven  county  did  appreciate  him  and  his  work, 
and  showed  it  by  getting  the  Assembly  to  give  him  a  fijxed  salary 
and  by  building  for  him  a  parsonage. °^  Indeed,  he  was  the 
best  minister  in  the  province  and  fared  better  than  any  other. 
The  first  members  of  the  English  Church  in  Craven  county 
were  some  of  the  English  from  Virginia,  the  next  were  the  Pala- 
tines and  Swiss,  who  in  belief  were  Lutherans  and  Calvinists, 
but  as  soon  as  settling  in  North  Carolina  applied  to  the  Bishop 


"Ihid.,  p.   365. 

"  DeRosset,   p.   69. 

^S.  R.,  Vol.   XXIII,   p.    182. 

"S.  R.,  Vol.   XXIII,   p.  420. 

^C.  R.,  Vol.  I,  p.   756. 


52  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

of  London  to  allow  them  to  be  received  into  his  church.  And 
De  Graffenried  hoped  that  they  would  behave  themselves  as  duti- 
ful patrons  of  the  English  Church. ^^  This  sect  was  increased 
by  Englishmen  who  steadily  came  into  the  county  from  after 
the  massacre  until  the  war.  It  was,  in  Craven  county,  the  ruling 
church,  but  only  by  being  forced  upon  the  people.  For,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  New  Lights  or  Presbyterians  were  in  the  lead 
there. 

On  the  whole  the  religious  conditions  of  the  county  were 
excellent  in  comparison  with  the  other  counties.  Mr.  Reed,  in 
a  letter  to  the  secretary,  dated  June  26,  1760,  said  that  he  esti- 
mated that  there  were  in  the  whole  county  about  a  thousand  in- 
fidels and  heathen  and  that  the  negroes  were  for  the  most  part 
heathen.^^ 

EDUCATION 

The  first  people  who  came  to  Craven  were  not  educated. 
They  had  only  the  education  gained  by  all  early  pioneers.  The 
French,  German,  and  Swiss  were  more  of  the  class  of  laboring 
people  than  of  educated  noblemen.  They  were  indeed  the  most 
educated  people  in  North  Carolina  at  that  time.  They  had  edu- 
cated ministers  with  them,  and  they  were  apt  and  quick  to  learn 
when  the  opportunity  for  study  offered  itself.  We  have  no 
proof,  but  judging  by  the  character  of  the  people,  and  their 
purpose  in  coming  to  America,  we  are  convinced  that  some  steps 
were  quickly,  after  settling,  taken  towards  preparing  schools 
for  the  children. 

Craven  county  soon  became  the  center  of  learning  of  the 
province,  when  New  Bern  was  made  the  capital.  Then  the 
most  learned  people  moved  to  Craven.  Again,  the  people  of 
Craven  county  were  wealthy  and  hired  private  teachers  for 
their  children  when  they  were  young.  When  the  boy  was  well 
enough  fitted  he  was  sent  off  to  college,  abroad  or  in  the  other 
colonies.  The  greater  part  of  the  boys  who  went  to  college  from 
Craven  entered  Princeton. 


=»(7.  B.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  265. 


Caeolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  53 

In  spite  of  Craven  being  the  center  of  learning  of  the  prov- 
ince, we  do  not  find  any  efforts  for  a  public  school  until  1764  on 
record.  Yet,  it  is  improbable  to  think  that  there  were  not  some 
public  schools  in  the  province,  because  we  hear  every  once  in  a 
while  of  the  particular  pains  taken  in  educating  the  negro  and 
Indian  in  Craven  county.  In  1764  we  find  the  first  public  school. 
Kev.  Mr.  Reed  wrote  a  letter,  dated  June  21,  1764,  with  this  ex- 
tract concerning  the  school  at  New  Bern:  "We  have  now  the 
prospect  of  a  verj'  flourishing  school  in  the  town  of  New  Bern, 
one  which  has  been  greatly  wanted.  In  December  Mr.  Tomlinson, 
a  young  man  who  had  kept  a  school  in  the  county  of  Cumberland 
in  England,  came  here  at  the  invitation  of  his  brother,  an  in- 
habitant of  this  parish.  On  the  first  of  January  he  opened 
school  in  this  county  and  immediately^  got  as  many  scholars  as 
he  could  instruct,  and  many  more  have  lately  offered  than  he 
can  possibly  take  to  do  them  justice.  He  has,  therefore,  sent  to 
his  friends  in  England  to  send  him  an  assistant,  and  a  sub- 
scription for  a  school  house  has  been  carried  on  with  success. 
I  have  notes  on  hand  payable  to  myself  for  upwards  of  two 
hundred  pounds  currency  (120  lbs.  sterling)  to  build  a  large 
and  commodious  schoolhouse  in  New  Bern."^*' 

In  1764  the  Assembly  passed  an  Act  allowing  a  school  house 
to  be  built  in  New  Bern  by  a  subscription  of  private  citizens. 
This  subscription  was  taken  up  by  Mr.  Reed,  who  was  one  of 
the  most  earnest  promoters  of  the  school.  He  first  received  the 
promise  of  the  money  and  had  great  difficulty  collecting  it  later. 
In  May,  1765,  a  petition,  signed  by  Mr.  Reed,  and  thirty-nine 
principal  inhabitants  of  New  Bern  and  the  vicinity,  was  sent 
to  Governor  Tryon,  requesting  him  to  represent  to  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
petitioners  that  the  Society  would  assist  them  by  granting  Mr. 
Tomlinson  an  annual  stipend,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able 
to  continue  in  New  Bern  and  instruct  their  children,  "in  such 
branches  of  useful  learning  as  are  necessary  in  several  of  the 
offices  and  stations  in  life,  and  imprint  on  their  tender  minds 
the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  agreeable  to  the  Estab- 


'  C.  R.,  Vol  I,  p.  1,048. 


54  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

lished  Church  of  England."  The  memorial  is  signed  by  the 
following  names:  James  Reed,  missionary,  Thos.  C.  Howard, 
Samuel  Cornell,  John  Williams,  Richard  Cogdell,  James  Davis, 
Peter  Cornwell,  John  Clitherall,  Jacob  Blunt,  Richard  Ellis, 
John  Franck,  Thos.  Pollock,  Bernard  Parkinson,  Wm.  Wilton,  ' 
Christ.  Neale,  Thos.  Sitgreaves,  Corn.  Grosnendeyk,  Jno.  Green, 
John  Fonville,  Longfield  Cox  and  many  others.^  ^ 

Governor  Tryon  forwarded  this  petition  to  the  Society  with 
his  hearty  approval,  giving  Mr.  Tomlinson  a  high  character. 
The  Society  granted  him  a  yearly  stipend  of  ten  pounds  at  first, 
and  later  fifteen.  Before  this,  he  had  been  receiving  from  his 
thirty  students  sixty  pounds  sterling  all  told  annually.^ ^ 

The  property  of  the  school  building  was  taken  from  the 
church  which  was  changed  for  a  lot  better  situated  on  the  corner 
of  Pollock  and  Craven  Streets.  There  was  probably  only  one 
building  used  as  school  house  and  residence  of  the  instructor.^ ^ 
The  building  was  started  in  1765,  and  in  1766  we  find  a  letter 
of  Mr.  Reed  to  the  secretary  of  the  Society  that  the  building 
is  going  on  slowly.  In  July  of  the  same  year,  he  writes  that 
the  house  has  been  closed  in  and  that  the  slow  progress  is  due 
to  the  lack  of  money,  men,  and  materials, — money  particularly. 
The  floors  were  still  to  be  laid  and  the  chimney  to  be  built.  That 
the  work  might  not  stop  at  this  stage  he  drew  upon  the  treasurer 
of  the  Society  for  his  salary  for  the  preceding  half  year,  and 
sent  the  draft  to  New  York  to  buy  bricks  for  the  chimney.  Be- 
sides that,  he  made  every  attempt  to  raise  more  money  by  sub- 
scriptions. 

The  school  house  when  completed  was  a  frame  structure 
forty-five  feet  long  and  thirty  feet  wide.  It  is  probable  that 
Mr.  Tomlinson  moved  into  this  building  the  last  of  1766  or  the 
beginning  of  1767.  The  school  was  incorporated  by  an  Act  of 
the  Assembly  in  1766. '^'^  The  Act  directed  that  the  subscribers 
of  the  Academy  Fund  should  hold  a  meeting  on  the  first  Tues- 
day in  April,  1767,  when  they  should  elect  eleven  men  of  their 


"  DeRossett,   Church  History,  pp.   172-3. 
«=■  C.  R.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  98. 
«3  DeRossett,  p.  172. 
"*  Moore,  p.  44. 


Carolina  and  Cravex  County  or  Precinct  55 

number  to  form  a  board  of  trustees.  These  trustees,  when  thus 
elected,  were  to  constitute  a  closed  corporation  to  hold  the  prop- 
erty of  the  school  and  to  manage  its  affairs  under  the  name  and 
style  of  the  "Incorporated  Society  for  Promoting  and  Estab- 
lishing the  Public  School  in  New  Bern."  The  second  section 
provides  that  the  master  shall  be  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  chosen  by  the  trustees  and  licensed  by  the  governor. 

The  Act  further  provides  for  an  extra  tax  on  distilled  spirits 
of  one  penny  per  gallon  on  all  imported  into  the  Xeuse  and 
Trent  Elvers,  for  the  purpose  of  the  support  of  the  school  at 
New  Bern.'^^  The  main  object  of  this  special  tax  was  to  pay  Mr. 
Tomlinson  twenty  pounds  yearly  towards  the  salary  of  an  assis- 
tant teacher.  This  Act  was  continued  in  force  for  seven  years. 
In  consideration  for  the  revenue  thus  granted  to  the  school  ten 
poor  children,  whose  parents  were  unable  to  pay  their  tuition, 
should  be  nominated  by  the  trustees  and  these  children  were 
to  receive  the  benefits  of  the  school  free  of  charge.  This  is  the 
only  public  provision  ever  made  for  the  school.  In  1768  Mr. 
Eeed  estimated  that  this  duty  on  spirits  would  yield  an  annual 
income  of  sixty  pounds,  which  would  be  sufficient  to  pay  Mr. 
Tomlinson  twenty  pounds  towards  the  salary  of  his  assistant  and 
also  to  supply  during  the  seven  years  of  his  continuance  a  fund 
which  would  pay  off  all  indebtedness  of  the  trustees  and  enable 
them  to  complete  the  building.^^  Besides  this  revenue  the  trus- 
tees received  from  the  Assembly  twenty  pounds  to  hold  their 
meetings  in  a  room  of  the  school  building.  From  1769  to  1761 
they  received  forty  pounds  annually  from  the  same  source.^' 
Also  there  was  another  small  income  available  for  the  purposes 
of  the  school.  There  were  two  half  cut  off  lots  from  the  church 
yard  which  were  leased  out  for  twenty-one  years  and  constituted 
the  beginning  of  a  fund  intended  for  the  permanent  endowment 
of  the  Academy.  All  this  revenue  for  the  school  amounted  to 
more  than  was  expected.  In  March,  1772,  Mr.  Reed  sent  the 
following  account  of  the  income  and  expense  of  the  school  for 
the  preceding  three  years : 

85  C.  R.,  Vol.  VII,   p.   443. 
^^  DeRossett,  p.   175. 
"/&id.,  p.   176. 


56  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Or. 

By  net  proceeds  for  duty  on  liquors   £  247,11,  4 

Eent   of   school  chamber   by   Assembly   £  100,00,  0 

Ground    rent,    first    payment    1771    £  19,10,  0 

£     367,01,  4 
Annual  Income , £     122,07,  1 

Dr. 

To  assistant   master  £  20,00,  0 

Poor  scholars,  ten  at  £4  £  40,00,  0 

Books,   paper,    and   firewood    £  10,00,  0 

Total £       70,00,  0 

Balance    for    repairs    £       52,07,  1 

Expense    £     122,07,  1 

This  revenue  was  allowed  by  the  Assembly  in  payment  i^or 
the  good  the  public  received  from  the  school. 

This  school  was  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  colony,  and  the 
first  school  house  established  in  the  province  by  legislative  au- 
thority. This  school  was  kept  open  for  many  years  after  the 
war.  But  the  school  lost  its  first  teacher,  Mr.  Tomlinson,  by  an 
act  of  injustice  on  the  part  of  the  trustees.  Mr.  Reed,  in  several 
letters,  took  the  part  of  the  instructor.  He  had  been  an  admirable 
teacher  and  master  of  the  school,  according  to  Mr.  Reed,  but 
he  believed  in  making  the  students  Behave  and  study  and  when 
they  did  not  do  this  he  used  the  only  known  method  of  com- 
pelling them  to  do  so, — that  was  the  switch.  This  offended  the 
parents  of  some  of  the  students,  who  were  members  of  the  board 
of  trustees.  These,  according  to  Mr.  Tomlinson,  stopped  his  pay 
and  he  had  to  sue  for  it.  The  trustees  discharged  him,  but  Mr. 
Parrott,  who  was  to  succeed  him,  refused  to  accept  the  place 
after  learning  how  Mr.  Tomlinson  had  been  treated,  and  so  Mr. 
Tomlinson  kept  the  school  until  he  voluntarily  retired.  His  re- 
tirement, according  to  his  own  letters,  was  caused  by  the  action 
of  the  trustees.  During  the  year  of  1772  he  left  New  Bern  and 
removed  to  Rhode  Island.  Not  only  did  Mr.  Reed  take  sides 
with  Tomlinson,  but  also  Governor  Martin  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  he  wished  that  the  Act  incorporating  the  trustees  would 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  57 

be  repealed  for  their  condiict.^^  The  people  of  New  Bern  and 
its  vicinity  drove  away  one  of  their  best  citizens. 

De  Rossett  says:  "Mr.  Tomlinson  must  be  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  line  of  professional  teachers  whose  work  has  gone 
into  the  history  of  North  Carolina.  There  had  been  ministers, 
'before  his  day,  or  contemporary  with  him,  who,  acting  also  as 
school  teachers,  had  done  and  were  doing  an  incalculable  work 
for  the  State,  which  was  to  be  in  training  to  guide  and  govern 
it  in  its  development  to  wealth  and  power,  but  so  far  as  the 
writer  is  informed,  Mr.  Tomlinson  was  the  first  professional 
teacher  who  had  under  his  training  a  large  element  of  the  youth 
of  the  colony.  New  Bern  and  the  district  about  it  were  fruitful 
of  men  of  eminence  and  of  influence  in  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries.  Many  of  these 
must  have  laid  the  foundation  of  their  intellectual  and  moral 
training  in  the  New  Bern  Academy  between  the  years  1764  and 
1772,  while  Mr.  Tomlinson  presided  as '  master.  "*^^  Governor 
Try  on  said  of  Mr.  Tomlinson  that  he  was  the  only  man  in  the 
county  who  was  a  true  professional  school  teacher.  Not  only 
was  Mr.  Tomlinson  a  great  professional  character  in  his  business, 
but  a  good  member  of  society.  When  North  Carolina  lost  him 
it  lost  one  of  its  greatest  benefactors. 

The  New  Bern  Academy  was  established  and  managed  ac- 
cording to  the  orders  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  minister 
was  the  main  founder  of  it.  Mr.  James  Reed  and  the  master 
were  compelled  to  be  members  of  the  English  Church.  Yet,  the 
people  did  not  look  upon  it  with  any  prejudice  because  it  was  a 
church  school.  This  fact  is  shown  by  the  names  of  the  most 
prominent  men  of  the  province  and  county  being  on  the 
list  of  subscribers,  also  as  trustees  and  as  petitioners 
for  the  salary  given  to  Mr.  Tomlinson  by  the  Society.  Again, 
the  children  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  province  attended 
school  there  under  Mr.  Tomlinson  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  James 
McCartney.  In  fact,  this  school  had  the  hearty  support  of  all 
the  people  of  North  Carolina. 


«'DeRossett,  p.  176. 
^^Ibid.,  p.   177. 


58  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

This  school  established  in  New  Bern  in  1764  has  had  more 
influence  upon  the  history  of  the  early  state  of  North  Carolina 
than  any  other  institution  save  the  University.  It  is  a  fact  that 
the  leading  men  of  the  State  from  1790  to  1835  came  from  the 
eastern  part  around  New  Bern,  Cape  Fear,  and  Edenton.  The 
majority  of  these  men  received  the  foundation  of  their  training 
at  the  New  Bern  Academy.  Too  little  space  is  given  in  history 
to  that  mother  of  schools  in  North  Carolina. 

TRYON 

Including  a  Brief  Sketch  op  Regulation  Movement  As  Far 

As  It  Concerned  Craven  County 

In  1764  Governor  Dobbs,  failing  in  health,  was  relieved  of 
his  more  active  duties  of  office,  they  being  placed  upon  William 
Tryon,  who  was  made  lieutenant-governor  of  North  Carolina. 
But  Governor  Dobbs  never  left  Carolina,  as  he  intended,  for  in 
the  spring  of  1765  he  died,  and  Tryon  was  made  temporary  gov- 
ernor of  the  colony  until  the  fall.  At  this  time  he  was  made 
permanent  governor  by  the  king.  He  first  lived  in  Brunswick, 
but  later,  after  having  his  palace  built  in  New  Bern,  lived  there 
during  the  remainder  of  his  stay  in  North  Carolina. 

Tryon  as  a  man  is  well  described  by  Fitch,  thus:  "Tryon 
was  a  soldier  by  profession  and  looked  upon  the  sword  as  the 
true  sceptre  of  the  government.  He  knew  when  to  flatter  and 
when  to  threaten;  he  knew  when  discretion  was  the  better  part 
of  valor,  and  when  to  use  such  force  and  cruelty  as  achieved 
for  him  from  the  Cherokee  Indians  the  bloody  title  of  'The 
Great  Wolf  of  North  Carolina.'  He  could  use  courtesy  towards 
the  assembly  room  when  he  desired  large  appropriations  for  his 
palace;  and  he  knew  how  to  bring  to  bear  blandishments  of  the 
female  society  of  his  family,  and  all  the  appliances  of  generous 
hospitality.  Indeed,  he  did  know  how  to  bring  to  bear  blandish- 
ments of  the  female  society  of  his  family."^^  It  is  said  and  be- 
lieved by  many  people  that  his  wife  and  her  sister.  Miss  Wake, 

'"Fitch,  p.  30. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  59 

who  made  her  home  with  the  governor,  helped  and  advised  him, 
in  all  his  plans,  either  social  or  political.  Mrs.  Tryon  and  her 
sisters  are  spoken  of  by  all  the  older  historians  as  being  charm- 
ing and  entertaining  ladies. "^  Anyway,  they  had  a  great  deal 
of  influence  over  the  governor,  and  over  the  social  circles  of  the 
capital  of  the  province.  Miss  Wake  was  honored  by  the  people 
of  Carolina  by  their  giving  her  name  to  one  of  the  now  metro- 
politan counties  of  North  Carolina.  The  name  of  the  county 
of  Tryon  was  changed  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  Wake 
coimty  is  still  a  memorial  to  his  sister-in-law. 

Tryon,  with  all  the  good  influences  around  him,  denied  the 
western  counties  their  rights.  Dr.  Williamson  says  it  was  a 
good  thing  for  the  western  counties  that  Tryon  was  not  bigoted. 
He  was  not  an  ideal  governor,  but  he  was  undoubtedly  the  best 
governor  who  had  ruled  the  province  up  to  this  time  and  up  to 
the  War  of  Independence.  He  did  punish  the  western  coun- 
ties for  the  failure  of  officers  to  do  their  duty.  But  despite  that 
he  did  more  for  the  province  than  anyone  before  him.  He  was 
one  of  the  main  advocates  for  the  establishment  of  the  public 
school  in  New  Bern,  and  partly  through  his  efforts  the  Assembly 
chartered  the  Academy  in  1766.  He  also  sent  several  petitions 
to  the  Society  for  the  aid  of  the  church  and  schools  in  the  prov- 
ince. It  was  indeed  his  misfortune  that  he  had,  in  order  to  keep 
his  governorship,  to  collect  taxes,  to  enforce  the  navigation  acts, 
and  to  press  the  Stamp  Act  upon  the  people. 

The  one  thing  that  he  cannot  be  excused  of  is  his  attitude 
toward  the  regulators.  He  allowed  them  representatives  in  the 
Assembly  until  Herman  Husband,  the  representative  from 
Orange  county,  when  asked  why  his  people  did  not  pay  their 
taxes,  threw  the  tax  money  on  the  table  before  the  governor  and 
remarked:  "I  brought  it  to  keep  it  from  dwindling,  seeing 
that  when  passing  through  so  many  fingers  it,  like  a  cake  of  soap, 
grows  less  at  each  handling."  Tryon  eyed  him,  and  after  the 
disapproval  of  his  council,  had  Chief  Justice  Howard,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  council,  to  issue  a  warrant  for  his  apprehension, 
and  had  him  placed  in  the  jail  at  New  Bern  where  he  was  con- 

"  Moore,   p.   41. 


60  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

fined  for  a  few  days.  He  was  released  only  when  the  governor 
heard  that  two  hundred  regulators  had  crossed  Haw  River  and 
were  marching  to  New  Bern  to  free  him.''^^  j^  fact,  the  gov- 
ernor had  fortifications  erected  and  Colonel  Leach  with  his 
troops  placed  in  the  trenches  to  protect  New  Bern  from  the 
Regulators.  Tryon,  in  order  to  have  a  secure  hold  on  him, 
brought  an  indictment  against  him  that  he  might  have  him  tried 
in  New  Bern  by  a  grand  jury  of  the  New  Bern  precinct.  This 
jury  failed  to  find  a  bill  against  Husband  and  he  was  dismissed. 
Even  though  the  governor  used  his  greatest  energy  against  him, 
and,  for  the  purpose  of  turning  the  people  of  the  east, — espe- 
cially Craven, — against  the  Regulators,  it  took  him  from  April, 
1769,  to  February,  1771,  to  find  a  jury  who  returned  a  true 
bill  against  Husband,'^^ 

Again,  the  existing  conditions  in  each  part  were  different 
without  any  communication.  Tryon,  the  hater  of  the  Regulators, 
lived  in  the  east  and  practically  controlled  many  of  the  leaders. 
The  people  of  Craven  county  were  not  expected  to  show  sym- 
pathy for  the  people  of  the  west,  since  Tryon  lived  in  the  east. 
Yet  besides  the  refusal  to  find  a  true  bill  against  Hus- 
band by  the  people  of  New  Bern  district,  the  militia  of  Craven 
county  for  three  days  refused  to  march  against  him.  Tryon, 
speaking  of  the  Craven  militia,  said  that  the  militia  was  not  to 
be  relied  upon.'''*  In  1770  Tryon  started  his  campaign  against 
the  Regulators  in  earnest.  The  militia  of  Craven  and  Beaufort 
under  Leach  formed  the  right  wing  of  the  front.  Craven  in  all 
had  four  companies  of  infantry  and  one  of  artillery.  These 
played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  whole  campaign  of  Tryon. 
Several  members  of  the  militia  from  Craven  county  were  killed 
in  the  battle  of  Alamance.  One  officer  that  was  killed  there 
was  ensign  William  Bryan,  of  Craven  county. 

TRYON'S  PALACE 

On  November  24,  1766,  the  Assembly  passed  a  bill  for  the 
erection  of  a  convenient  building  within  the  town  of  New  Bern 
for  the  residence  of  the  governor  and  commander-in-chief  for  the 

'^C.  B.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.   500. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  iv. 

'*0.  E.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.   546. 


Carolina  and  Craven  uounty  or  Precinct  til 

time  being.'''^  This  bill  was  said  to  have  been  suggested  by  the 
king  first,  but  Tryon  was  the  main  power  that  pushed  it  through 
the  Assembly  with  the  aid  of  his  friends  and  relations. 
The  execution  of  the  bill  was  put  under  his  orders  and  direc- 
tions solelyJ^  The  governor's  tastes  and  desires  for  luxury 
were  paid  for  by  the  collection  of  almost  intolerable  taxes  from 
the  people  of  the  province,  who  had  few  resources  and  less 
money.  The  building  of  the  palace  had  many  results.  First, 
it  made  the  people  of  both  the  east  and  west  look  upon  Tryon 
as  a  man  seeking  only  self-elevation,  and  caused  them  to  com- 
plain bitterly  against  the  taxes.  This  was  the  first  step  that 
led  the  people  to  revolt  so  soon  against  the  undue  oppression  of 
the  king.  It  was  a  great  thing  for  New  Bern  and  Craven  county 
because  it  brought  the  officials  of  the  province  into  the  county 
and  made  the  social  circles  of  Craven  the  best  in  the  province. 
Again,  it  brought  trade  to  New  Bern  and  put  some  little  money 
into  circulation.  Also,  it  helped  to  make  Tryon  known  to  all 
America. 

Tryon  estimated  that  it  would  cost  about  £14,710,  but  when 
the  building  was  completed  it  was  at  an  expense  of  £17,845 
besides  the  furniture.  When  it  was  finished  and  the  governor 
moved  in,  it  had  cost  the  people  of  North  Carolina  at  least 
£20,000,— or  $100,000.  Tryon  procured  John  Hawkes  to  super- 
intend the  construction  of  it.  He  had  come  to  America  with 
Tryon  and  was  a  near  relative  to  the  Dr.  Hawks,  historian,  who 
lived  in  New  Bern.'''^  Skilled  artisans  came  from  Philadelphia 
to  do  the  work.  The  work  on  the  mansion  began  August  26, 
1767.  In  December  Tryon  reported  that  the  work  was  being 
steadily  pushed  ahead  for  completion.  And  in  October,  1770, 
it  was  completed  and  the  governor  moved  in.  In  January  the 
public  records  were  moved  into  the  palace.'''^ 

It  was  situated  on  a  square  of  six  acres  condemned  land 
bounded  by  Eden,  Metcalf,  and  Pollock  Streets  and  Trent  Riv- 
er. ^^  Tj^g  present  George  Street  was  part  of  the  walk  that  led 
to  the  main  building. 

^^  Ibid.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  320. 

^^Ibid.,  p.   266. 

"  Haywood,    64. 

'8  C.  R.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  695. 

'"Vass,   p.   90. 


62  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

Almost  all  the  material  came  from  England,  especially  bricks 
and  prepared  material.  Even  the  plumbers  and  their  lead  to 
the  amount  of  eight  tons  came  from  London.^^ 

The  contract  that  was  made  called  for  a  two-story  main 
building,  but  by  the  authority  of  some  one  it  was  made  a  three- 
story  one,  eighty-seven  feet  high  in  front,  and  fifty-nine  feet 
wide.  This  main  building  was  the  governor's  headquarters,  the 
right  wing  a  two-story  building  of  some  expensive  material  and 
workmanship  was  the  secretary's  office.  The  left  wing  resem- 
bling the  right  in  every  particular  was  the  servant's  headquar- 
ters. The  three  buildings  were  connected  by  covered  colonnades, 
of  five  columns  each.  ''Between  the  two  wings  in  front  of  the 
main  building  was  a  handsome  court.  The  rear  of  the  building 
was  finished  in  the  style  of  the  Mansion  House  in  London.^ ^ 
The  ends  of  the  buildings  were  beautifully  decorated,'  with 
statues,  and  other  work  of  sculpture.  Marble  from  Italy  was 
not  spared,  because  of  price,  but  used  freely.  The  ball  room  was 
not  forgotten,  because  it  was  there  that  Tryon,  as  Maurice  Moore 
says,  acted  too  much  like  a  ruler.  In  the  council  chamber  there 
was  a  handsomely-designed  chimney  piece,  containing  decora- 
tions of  Ionic  statuary,  with  columns  of  Sienna,  the  fretwork 
of  frieze  being  also  inlaid  with  the  latter  material.  In  addition 
to  this,  and  above  the  whole,  were  richly  ornamental  marble 
tablets,  on  which  were  the  medallions  of  King  George  and  his 
queen.  ^2 

Over  the  door  of  antechamber  was  a  Latin  verse  showing 
that  it  was  dedicated  to  Sir  William  Draper,  in  translation  by 
Martin  Means;  it  read: 

"In  the  reign  of  a  monarch,  who  goodness  disclosed, 
A  free  happy  people,  to  dread  tyrants  opposed, 
Have  to  virtue  and  merit  erected  this  dome; 
May  the  owner  and  household  make  the  loved  home, 
Where  religion,  the  arts  and  laws  may  invite, 
Puture  ages  to  live  in  sweet  peace  and  delight.'"* 

«>C.  B.,  Vol.  VIII.  pp.  7-8. 

siVass,  p.   91. 

*^  Haywood,   p.   65. 

«3  IMd. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  63 

The  main  part  and  left  wing  were  burned  in  1798.  The  right 
wing  remains  today,  and  is  used  as  a  residence  by  a  family 
named  Duffy. 

This  palace  was  by  far  the  most  splendid  in  North  America, 
and  if  we  can  believe  the  unfortunate  General  Don  Francisco 
de  Miranda,  of  South  America,  who  visited  the  edifice  in  1783, 
in  company  of  Judge  Martin,  there  was  not  one  in  South  Amer- 
ica which  could  come  up  with  it.  He  said :  ' '  Even  in  South 
America,  a  land  of  palaces,  it  has  no  equal.  "^^  Tryon  only 
enjoyed  his  mansion  a  year  when  he  went  to  New  York. 

NEW  BERN 

New  Bern,  the  county  seat  of  Craven  county  and  the  capital 
of  the  province  for  many  years  was  the  largest  town  in  North 
Carolina  up  until  the  war  and  afterwards.  In  1777,  Mr.  Watson 
on  his  journey  passed  through  New  Bern  said  then  there  were 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  houses.  In  1796  Mr.  Winterbothan 
says,  "New  Bern  is  the  largest  town  in  the  State.  It  contains 
about  four  hundred  houses  all  built  of  wood  save  the  palace,  jail, 
church  and  two  residences.  .  .  .  The  Episcopal  Church  is 
a  small  brick  building  with  a  bell. '  '^^ 

New  Bern  is  thought  to  have  been  laid  off  in  May  or  June, 
1710,  by  Colonel  Thomas  Pollock  and  John  Lawson.  It  is  situ- 
ated on  a  neck  of  land  at  the  confluence  of  the  Neuse  and  Trent 
Elvers.  It  is  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  Neuse  and  on  the  other 
by  the  Trent,  and  on  the  back  by  Jack  Smith  Creek.  The  place 
was  formerly  called  Chattawka  from  the  Indians  who  lived  there 
and  who  were  in  alliance  with  the  Tuscaroras,  with  whom,  in 
1715,  they  went  to  New  York.^e  De  Graffenried  purchased  it 
from  King  Taylor  and  changed  the  name  to  New  Bern  in  honor 
of  his  and  Mitchell 's  birthplace.  For  the  first  year  it  seems  that 
things  went  well  with  New  Bern,  other  settlers  besides  the  Swiss 
and  Palatines,  chiefly  English,  settled  there  and  there  was  a  de- 
cided step  forward  in  prosperity. s'''     The  people  of  New  Bern 


8*  Fitch,   p.   45. 

^Winterbothan  History  of  N.   C,   Vol.   Ill,   p.    199. 

^  North  Carolina  BookletrYol.  I,  p.   12. 

"  Ibid. 


64  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

received  a  severe  blow  by  the  Indian  massacre  of  1711,  but  re- 
covered. In  1714  De  Graffenried  mortgaged  the  land  on  which 
New  Bern  stands  to  Thomas  Pollock  for  the  sum  of  eight  hun- 
dred pounds.  Pollock  willed  it  to  his  son  Cullen.^^  As  soon  as 
De  Graffenried  mortgaged  his  land  he  left  for  England,  leaving 
the  colony  in  a  bad  condition.  The  colonists  were  sorry  to  see 
him  leave  but  the  town  which  he  had  founded  did  not  languish 
under  the  new  regime.  Houses  were  built,  streets  were  laid  off 
and  fields  cleared,  soon  houses  stretched  from  one  river  to  the 
other. 

In  1723  New  Bern  was  fixed  as  seat  of  Craven  precinct  and 
a  bill  passed  the  Assembly  for  the  building  of  a  court  house 
there.  In  1723  New  Bern  was  incorporated  as  the  third  town 
in  the  province  and  was  really  the  only  town,  since,  as  Dr. 
Hawks  says,  Bath  was  only  a  hamlet  and  Edenton  was  smaller 
than  it. 

In  1729  New  Bern  remained  the  county  seat.  In  1736  the 
quit  rents  of  both  Craven  and  Carteret  counties  were  paid  at 
New  Bern  in  gold  or  silver.^^  New  Bern  was  the  seat  of  all 
courts,  the  supreme  court  of  Craven,  Carteret,  Johnston,  Beau- 
fort and  Hyde.  The  Court  of  Chancery  was  held  in  New  Bern 
on  the  first  Tuesday  in  December  and  June.  This  was  started 
in  1736  by  Governor  Johnston.  The  courts  of  Oyer  and  Term- 
iner were  held  there  also  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  April  and 
October.  It  was  there  that  the  land  office  was  kept  open  for 
three  weeks  so  that  the  governor  could  listen  to  and  settle  land 
disputes. 

In  a  letter  of  Governor  Johnston,  dated  1763,  he  says,  ' '  But  I 
hope  we  shall  be  more  regular  for  the  future,  for  in  a  recent 
Assembly  held  at  Wilmington  I  have  got  a  law  passed  for  fixing 
the  seat  of  government  at  New  Bern,  and  a  tax  for  a  public 
building.  "9*^  Before  the  passage  of  this  bill  the  As- 
sembly and  courts  had  been  held  at  Edenton,  near  the 
border  of  Virginia,  while  the  representatives  were  mostly  from 
Cape  Fear  section.  The  governor  attended  several  of  the  meet- 
ings but  he  could  not  force  the  majority  of  the  council  to  leave 

89  0.  B.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  186. 
^Ibid.,  844. 


Caeolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  65 

their  business  and  plantations  for  three  times  a  year  and  travel 
backward  and  forward  twelve  hundred  miles  when  they  had 
neither  salary  nor  reward  for  so  doing.  This  was  the  main 
reason  why  he  got  the  law  passed  at  Wilmington  for  fixing  the 
General  Assembly  and  courts  at  New  Bern,  the  center  of  the 
province.  The  passage  of  this  bill  caused  a  disturbance  in  sev- 
eral places. ^1  Bath,  Wilmington,  and  Edenton  all  were  jealous 
of  New  Bern.     Each  wanted  to  be  the  capital  of  the  province. 

The  Assembly  met  for  the  first  time  in  New  Bern  in  1736 
and  continued  to  meet  there  until  about  1749. 

New  Bern  flourished  while  it  was  the  capital,  many  rich  mer- 
chants lived  there.  The  best  people  of  the  province  moved  there. 
Trade  increased  and  the  town  grew  at  a  rapid  rate.  But  as 
soon  as  the  public  business  was  carried  away  complaints  were 
heard  among  its  people  which  is  shown  by  an  extract  from  a 
letter  by  John  Campbell  to  Richard  Cogdell  of  New  Bern  dated 
1761.92 

"The  account  of  the  dullness  of  j^our  town  and  business  in 
it  I  am  sorry  for,  but  the  thinking  people  in  it  and  about  it 
must  thank  themselves  who  drove  away  the  government  officers. 
These  people  could  not  bear  a  little  flow  of  money,  but  grew  so 
proud  and  insolent.  They  will  feel  the  reverse  and  now  may 
reflect  on  themselves  when  too  late." 

It  is  true  that  the  people  of  New  Bern  did  not  take  the  in- 
terest they  should  have  in  preparing  for  the  officers.  Governor 
Johnston  says  in  a  letter  dated  December  28,  1748,  "One  mighty 
inconvenience  we  have  to  struggle  with  at  present  is  that  nobody 
cares  to  lay  in  provisions  for  man  or  horse  at  New  Bern  though 
it  is  the  most  fruitful  and  central  part  of  the  province,  such 
pains  are  taken  to  assure  the  people  that  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment will  be  removed,  when  they  get  five  members  restored,  but 
no  one  cares  for  advancing  money  to  entertain  the  public,  so  that 
in  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks'  time  we  are  obliged  to  separate 
for  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Things  would  soon  take  an- 
other change  if  this  point  was  determined.  "^^     The  inhabitants 


»iC.    R.,   Vol.    IV,    p.    1086. 

^^Ibid.,  p.   844. 

'^C.  R.,  Vol.   4,   p.    1166. 


66  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

of  New  Bern  did  not  realize  what  was  the  benefit  of  being  the 
capital  until  it  was  removed,  which  took  place  between  1746 
and  1750.  Between  1750  and  1762  the  Assembly  was  held  in 
no  special  town.  When  Dobbs  became  governor  he  appointed 
Tower  Hill  on  the  Neuse  as  capital  in  1758.  The  people  peti- 
tioned the  king  to  make  New  Bern  capital  again  because  it  was 
more  central,  better  located  and  had  better  navigation  facilities 
than  Tower  Hill.^^  Yet  some  people  objected  to  having  it  for 
capital  because  of  its  hot  climate  and  unhealthy  atmosphere. 
Finally  in  1766  New  Bern  was  selected  as  the  permanent  capital 
of  North  Carolina  and  the  palace  was  built  there. ^^ 

The  effects  of  the  capital  being  moved  there  were  immediately 
felt.  In  1767  we  have  a  report  which  says  that  trade  was  in- 
creasing rapidly.^^  In  1772,  two  years  after  the  palace  was 
completed,  Tryon  says,  "New  Bern  is  growing  rapidly  into  sig- 
nificance in  spite  of  the  great  natural  difficulties  of  the  naviga- 
tion leading  to  it,  and  its  importance,  I  hope,  will  become  greater 
as  the  spirit  of  improvement."^^  New  Bern  had  a  large  trade, 
its  harbor  was  always  full  of  boats  or  vessels  from  Virginia, 
Bermuda  and  the  West  Indies  and  New  England.  It  exported 
great  quantities  of  tar,  pitch,  turpentine-  and  other  naval  sup- 
plies direct  to  England,  also  large  quantities  of  com,  beeswax, 
hams,  and  deerskins  were  shipped  from  New  Bem.^^  New 
Bern  was  on  a  post  road  which  began  at  Suffolk,  Virginia,  came 
down  by  Roanoke,  Pamlico  River,  Bath,  through  New  Bern  on 
to  South  Carolina  by  New  River,  Wilmington  and  Brunswick. 
Thirty-eight  miles  of  this  route  was  in  Mr.  James  Davis'  charge 
for  mails.  For  his  service  he  received  annually  one  hundred 
and  six  pounds,  six  shillings  and  eight  pence. 

On  August  15,  1769,  a  terrible  storm  struck  New  Bern.  The 
banks  of  the  rivers  were  washed  down,  warehouses  were  smashed 
open  and  their  goods  floated  away.  Some  three  persons  were 
killed.  One  man,  describing  it  to  a  friend,  says :  ' '  New  Bern 
is  really  now  a  spectacle,  her  streets  full  of  the  tops  of  houses, 


"■•/fcid.,  Vol.  6,  p.  875. 
^^  Ibid.,  Vol.  7,  p.  44. 
^<'Ibid.,  p.   499. 
^^  Ibid.,  Vol.   9,  p.  281. 
"^Vass,  p.   89. 


Carolina  and  Cra\t:n  County  or  Precinct  67 

timbers,  shingles,  dry  goods,  barrels,  and  hogsheads,  most  of 
them  empty  rubbish,  in  so  much  yoii  can  hardly  pass  along, — a 
few  days  ago  so  flourishing.  "^^  Crops,  cattle,  sheep,  hogs,  were 
washed  away  and  destroyed.  There  was  no  place  on  the  coast 
that  suffered  like  New  Bern.  One  entire  street  was  destroyed. 
The  printing  office  of  Mr.  James  "Davis  was  destroyed  with  all 
the  type,  papers,  and  what  money  he  had.  New  Bern  was  not 
able  to  pay  the  expenses  of  this  storm  for  a  while,  but  soon 
caught  up  and  surpassed  her  former  position. 

New  Bern  besides  her  commercial  business  had  other  busi- 
nesses, namely,  manufacturing.  In  1772  Mr.  Richard  Graham 
set  up  a  pot  and  pearlash  factory  which  helped  New  Bern 
greatly.  In  1775  New  Bern  had  one  of  the  only  two  rum  distill- 
eries in  North  Carolina,  it  turned  out  annually  two  hundred 
hogsheads  of  rum,  made  from  molasses.  The  other  one  was  at 
Wilmington  and  had  a  capacity  of  five  hundreds  hogsheads 
annually.  ^"^'^ 

New  Bern  was  not  only  the  largest  town  in  the  province,  the 
seat  of  the  government,  the  great  commercial  and  manufacturing 
town,  but  also  the  seat  of  the  best  education,  religion,  and  social 
circle  of  the  province. 

In  1767  the  New  Bern  Academy  was  chartered,  which  was 
in  New  Bern,  and  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  province.  Also 
there  were  several  private  schools  there. 

The  social  circle  of  New  Bern  was  composed  of 
the  government  officials,  rich  merchants  and  the  wealthiest 
people  of  the  province. 

The  people  of  New  Bern  were  as  we  shall  see  ready  to  rebel 
against  unjust  oppression.  Here  happened  in  1765  the  New 
Bern  Stamp  Act  Riot.  In  1775  the  people  seized  the  guns  from 
the  palace  court.  And  in  1775  the  first  two  provincial  con- 
gresses were  held  there.  New  Bern  indeed  plaj^ed  a  great  part 
in  the  history  of  Craven  county,  of  North  Carolina,  both  before 
and  after  the  War  of  Independence, 


»!>  G.    R.,   Vol.   VIII,    p.    74. 
lo^C.   R.,   Vol.   VIII,   pp.    1,    4. 


68  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

^     PEOPLE  OF  CRAVEN  COUNTY 

The  first  people  of  Craven  County,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
half  wild  northern  hunters,  as  I  have  found  the  Blounts.  These 
were  as  free  as  the  country  in  which  they  lived.  Brave,  bold, 
and  not  to  be  oppressed  were  the  qualities  or  characteristics  of 
these  early  hunters  and  scattered  families.  They  lived  mostly 
on  game  from  the  forest  and  fish  from  the  rivers.  These  were 
obtained  with  little  effort  and  did  not  encourage  thrift  and 
activeness  in  the  people.  These  were  the  only  inhabitants  until 
1707,  except  a  few  English  who  strayed  across  the  Neuse  after 
1690. 

The  first  real  colony  that  settled  in  Craven  was  the  French 
Protestants,  which  in  1690  fled  from  Prance  to  Virginia  because 
of  religious  persecution,  thence  to  Craven,  because  of  its  wealth 
in  soil,  plants,  game,  and  freedom.  They  brought  their 
ministers  with  them.  These  French  settlers  were  a  religious, 
God-fearing,  liberty-loving  people.  They  were,  as  a  whole,  in- 
dustrious and  thrifty.  Lawson  says  that  they  were  indeed  a 
very  industrious  people, ^^^  soberly  behaved,  and  having  the 
advantages  of  education  and  being  very  bright.  In 
general  the  women  were  the  most  industrious  sex  in  that  place, 
and  saved  money  by  making  their  linens  and  woolens.  The  men 
were  aided  by  nature  to  such  an  extent  that  they  did  not  have 
to  labor  hard  to  provide  for  their  families. 

The  next,  as  we  have  seen,  were  the  German  Palatines, — a 
practical,  smart,  determined,  and  free  people.  Their  object  in 
coming  was  religious  freedom  and  personal  liberty.  In  com- 
pany with  them  were  the  Swiss,  from  the  fatherland  of  democ- 
racy, a  free  country,  a  free  people.  Indeed,  they  were  the  most 
liberty-loving  people  of  all  the  colonists.  They  were  also  re- 
ligious. God-fearing  people.  They,  too,  were  an  industrious, 
capable  people.  In  the  same  year  with  the  Swiss  came  the  small 
groups  of  Welsh  Quakers  and  settled  in  Craven. 

After  1710  the  new  colonists  of  Craven  were  English,  except 
in  1732  another  cluster  of  German  immigrants  landed  in  New 


^"1  Lawson,   p.    141. 


Carolina  and  Cra\^n  County  or  Precinct  69 

Bern.  The  English  need  no  description  by  me,  their  character- 
istics being  well  known. 

Here  in  such  a  small  extent  of  territory  as  colonial  Craven 
count}'  were  four  elements  that,  if  mixed,  would  be  the  best 
mixture  that  could  be  made.  They  did  mix,  and  they  did  make 
one  of  the  most  religious,  liberty-loving  people  that  have  been 
found  in  the  colonies,  although  each  race  produced  its  great 
men  of  Craven  county  in  North  Carolina. 

Bancroft  says:  ''North  Carolina  was  settled  by  the  freest 
of  the  free,  bravest  of  the  brave.  The  settlers  were  gentle  in 
their  tempers,  of  serene  minds,  enemies  to  violence  and  blood- 
shed."^*^- ''North  Carolina  was  the  most  free  and  independent 
country  ever  organized  by  man.  Freedom  of  conscience,  ex- 
empted from  taxes  save  by  their  own  consent  .  .  .  these 
simple  people  were  as  free  as  the  air  of  their  country',  and 
when  oppressed,  as  rough  as  the  billows  of  the  ocean." 

The  people  of  Craven  county  submitted  to  the  laws  of 
British  rule  so  long  as  they  were  just,  but  as  soon  as  their  rights 
were  stepped  upon  that  spirit  of  freedom  broke  forth  first  in 
the  Stamp  Act  Riot  of  1765,  and  continued  to  show  itself 
throughout  the  war,  and  still  shows  itself. 

The  people  of  Craven  county,  as  in  the  other  sections  of  the 
province,  were  divided  into  three  classes :  First,  the  educated 
abroad  before  or  after  coming  to  America.  Craven  had  more  of 
this  class  than  the  other  counties  of  Carolina  because  all  the 
government  offices  were  there.  Second,  were  the  men  who  had 
made  fortunes  in  land  or  such.  Craven  had  many  of  these, 
especially  rich  merchants  and  land-owners,  and  with  that  many 
slaves.  AVe  find  from  reading  the  wills  that  this  class  was  pre- 
dominant in  Craven.  Third,  the  common  people,  farmers  and 
so  forth,  Craven  had  her  share  of  these. ^"^-^ 

Life  in  Craven,  as  well  as  in  the  other  eastern  counties,  was 
gay.  The  log  houses  of  the  first  settlers  by  1729  were  mostly 
done  away  with  and  in  their  places  were  the  frame  and  brick 
houses.     These  houses  soon  were  well     furnished,     and     silver 

i"2  Fitch  p.   2  5. 

i°3  Hawks,   II,   p.   572. 


70  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

spoons  and  other  such  articles  were  often  seen.  The  stables  were 
full  of  horses  for  riding  purposes.  And  nature  furnished  the 
eatables  with  no  lax  hand.  Among  the  first  and  second  class 
wealth  abounded  and  was  appreciated.  But  in  all  the  classes 
hospitality  was  unbounded,  and  weddings  and  other  social  occa- 
sions were  largely  attended.  New  Bern  was  the  residence  of  the 
higher  class,  who  attended  the  splendid  balls  given  by  Tryon, 
and  those,  in  return,  given  by  the  rich  merchants.  In  fact,  New 
Bern  was  the  gayest,  liveliest,  and  busiest  town  in  the  province. 
Imported  wines,  rum  from  the  West  Indies,  and  negro  fiddlers 
added  charms  to  the  midnight  revelry  of  all  classes.  The  curled 
and  powdered  gentlemen  and  the  ladies  in  their  hoops  were  never 
so  pleased  as  in  walking  a  minuet  or  betting  at  a  rubber  of 
whist.  Horse  racing  and  fox  chasing  were  in  high  favor  as  a 
pastime. 

The  roads  to  Craven  and  other  counties  were  very  bad.  There 
w^as  a  road  from  New  Bern  to  Bath.  Communication  was  bad, 
but  the  people  from  all  the  sections  of  the  country  overcame 
the  difficulties  and  went  to  New  Bern  to  see  and  take  part  in 
the  balls  given  by  Tryon.  Craven  county,  after  1736,  was  the 
center  of  gaiety.  Even  though  it  seemed  as  if  the  people  of 
Craven  were  given  to  too  much  revelry,  they  were  not  taken  up 
so  much  with  it  that  they  did  not  flourish  in  wealth,  number,  and 
moral  laws. 

WAR  MOVEMENTS 

We  are  not  surprised  in  finding  the  people  of  eastern  North 
Carolina,  especially  those  of  Craven  county,  revolting  against 
oppression  since  they  were  people  of  such  traits  of  character  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  previous  chapter.  In  Craven  one  of  the 
first  actions  against  unjust  taxation  leaning  towards  force  took 
place. 

Between  1735  and  1740,  when  Johnston  was  governor,  Gran- 
ville's land  agents  were  making  trouble  with  the  colonists,  and 
lawful  taxes  were  doubled  many  times.  The  currency  was  scarce, 
and  gold  and  silver  were  hardly  ever  seen  and  not  enough  Eng- 
lish money  to  pay  the  taxes.     Contentions  frequently  arose  be- 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  71 

tween  the  rulers  and  the  ruled.  "When  Tryon  came,  although 
he  was  a  good  ruler  in  some  respects,  he  made  the  burden  of 
the  colonists  more  grievous.  In  the  year  1765  the  British  Par- 
liament passed  the  odious  "Stamp  Act,"  another  source  of  ob- 
taining money  from  the  colonists  without  their  consent.  This 
was  more  than  the  liberty-loving  people  of  eastern  North  Caro- 
lina could  bear.  Meetings  were  held  from  one  end  of  the  prov- 
ince to  the  other,  in  which  they  expressed  their  indignation  and 
declared  that  they  would  not  submit  to  the  law. 

The  speaker  in  the  Assembly  told  the  governor  that  the  law 
would  be  resisted  to  "blood  and  death."  All  this  had  to  have 
a  climax  which  was  brought  about  by  the  citizens  of  Cape  Fear 
combined  with  those  of  New  Bern,  under  the  lead  of  Colonel 
Ashe  and  Waddell,  both  of  New  Hanover. 

The  Stamp  Act  was  passed  and  was  attempted  to  be  enforced. 
Dr.  William  Houston  was  appointed  stamp  distributor  of  Caro- 
lina and  he  came  to  North  Carolina  as  the  guest  of  Governor 
Tryon.  The  people  of  New  Hanover  learned  of  his  presence  in 
Brunswick.  Immediately  a  body  of  men  under  Ashe  and  Wad- 
dell marched  to  Brunswick.  There  they  went  to  the  house 
of  Tryon,  surrounded  it,  and  demanded  to  speak  T^dth  the  stamp 
agent.  Tryon  at  first  refused  to  allow  this.  Preparations  were 
made  to  set  his  house  on  fire  and  he  realized  that  the  people 
were  in  earnest  and  he  invited  Colonel  Ashe  or  Waddell  into 
his  residence.  He  boldly  entered  and  in  a  few  minutes  returned 
with  the  stamp  distributor.  Tryon  was  made  a  prisoner  in  his 
own  home,  while  Houston  was  hurried  to  Wilmington,  where  he 
resigned  as  stamp  agent  and  took  an  oath  never  to  sell  another 
stamp.  This  occurred  on  November  14,  1765. i'^^  The  next  day, 
November  15,  1765,  the  people  of  New  Bern  and  its  vicinity  had 
became  so  enraged  that  encouraged  by  the  actions  of  the 
Cape  Fear  people  they  gathered  into  a  mob,  while  the 
Superior  Court  was  being  held  they  tried,  condemned,  hanged, 
and  burned  Dr.  William  Houston  in  effigy,  A  riot  followed  in 
which  no  great  damage  was  done.     This  riot  is  known  as  the 

^'^  Fitch,   p.   36. 


72  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

New  Bern  riot  of  1765.  Not  only  in  Craven,  but  elsewhere  was 
the  same  thing  done.  From  an  extract  of  a  letter  in  C.  R.  Vol. 
VII,  p.  125,  we  find:  "We  hear  from  the  inhabitants  of  that 
place  (New  Bern)  that  they  tried,  condemned,  hanged,  and 
burned  Dr.  William  Houston  in  effigy,  during  the  sitting  of  their 
Superior  Court.  .  .  .  Also  it  happened  in  Wilmington  . 
,  .  At  Cross  Creek  'tis  said  they  hanged  his  effigy  and  Mc- 
Carter's  together  (who  murdered  his  wife).  Nor  have  they 
spared  him  in  Duplin,  his  own  county." 

In  1774  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  passed,  which  caused  the 
port  of  Boston  to  be  closed.  Soon  a  cry  for  aid  was  sent  out  by 
the  people  of  Boston.  The  people  of  New  Bern  and  Craven  county 
quickly  responded.  A  great  deal  of  provisions  were  collected 
from  Craven  and  sent  to  Salem  for  the  relief  of  Boston.  On 
January  27,  1775,  we  find  this  notice  in  the  Gazette :  ' '  Public 
notice  is  hereby  given  that  Mr.  John  Green  and  Mr,  John  Wright 
Stanley,  merchants  in  New  Bern,  have  agreed  with  and  are 
appointed  by  the  committee  of  Craven  county  to  receive  the 
subscriptions  which  are  now  or  may  hereafter  be  raised  in  the 
said  county  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed  inhabitants  of  Boston, 
and  to  ship  the  same  to  Salem  as  soon  as  the  several  subscriptions 
are  received. 

"Proper  stores  are  provided  for  by  the  said  gentlemen  for 
the  reception  of  corn,  peas,  pork,  and  such  articles  as  the  sub- 
scribers may  choose  to  pay  their  subscription  in. 

"Those  gentlemen,  therefore,  who  have  taken  subscriptions 
either  in  money  or  effects,  are  desired  to  direct  the  same  to  be 
paid  or  delivered  to  the  above  Messrs.  Green  and  Stanley  on 
or  before  the  middle  of  March  next,  and  to  send  as  soon  as 
possible  an  account  of  the  subscriptions  to  be  taken  and  are 
taken  by  which  they  may  be  governed  in  receiving. — R.  Cog- 
deU,  Chairman,  "i*^^ 

On  August  26,  1774,  the  first  provincial  congress  was  held. 
At  first  it  was  planned  to  be  held  at  Johnston  Court  House,  but 
it  was  changed  and  held  in  New  Bern  at  the  above  date.  Craven 
had  four  members :     Coor,  Cogdell,  Abner  Nash,  and  Edwards. 


"=  C.  R.,  Vol.  IX,  p.  xxxviii. 


Carolina  and  Craven  County  or  Precinct  73 

This  Congress  met  in  spite  of  the  orders  of  Governor  Martin 
forbidding  such  a  meeting. ^"^"^ 

On  August  9,  1774,  the  Friends  of  American  Liberty  called 
a  meeting  of  the  people  of  Craven  county  at  New  Bern.  In  this 
meeting  members  for  the  provincial  congress  were  elected.^*^"^ 

The  second  provincial  congress  was  held  on  April  3,  1775, 
at  New  Bern.  Craven  was  represented  by  James  Coor,  Lemuel 
Hatch,  Jacob  Blunt,  William  Bryan,  Richard  Cogdell,  Jacob 
Leach.  New  Bern  by  Abner  Nash  and  James  Davis.  At  the 
third  provincial  congress  held  at  Hillsboro  August  20,  1775, 
Craven  was  represented  hy  Coor,  Biyan,  Cogdell,  Leach,  Blunt, 
and  Edmond  Hatch,  New  Bern,  by  Nash,  Davis,  William  Tisdale, 
and  Richard  Ellis.  At  the  fourth  one  held  at  Halifax,  April  4, 
1776,  Craven  was  represented  by  the  same  men  as  at  Hillsboro. 
New  Bern  only  sent  one,  Abner  Nash.  Li  each  of  these  con- 
gresses the  representatives  of  Craven  and  New  Bern  took  an 
active  part. 

On  May  23,  1775,  right  after  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington had  reached  New  Bern,  the  commmittee  of  safety,  which 
consisted  of  Dr.  Alex  Gaston,  Richard  Cogdell,  John  Easton, 
Major  Croom,  Roger  Ormond,  Edward  Saltee,  George  Burrow, 
and  James  Glasgow,  led  by  Cogdell,  and  backed  up  by 
the  entire  population  of  Craven  county,  waited  upon 
the  governor.  Their  mission  was  to  ask  him  to  remount  the 
cannon  that  were  in  the  town  and  at  the  palace.  Martin  had 
had  them  dismounted  because  he  had  heard  that  the  committee 
was  to  sieze  them  as  was  done  later.  He  prevaricated,  however, 
as  to  his  purpose,  and  seemingly  satisfied  the  committee  for  the 
moment,  but  only  for  the  moment  as  he  well  knew. 

Martin  realized  that  the  end  had  fully  come  ;  he  saw  that  with- 
out a  man  or  a  gun  he  was  no  longer  a  governor  but  was  a  pris- 
oner in  his  0"wa  palace  under  strictest  surveillance,  and  that  his 
only  resort  was   immediate   flight.     Therefore   he  immediately 


'  IMd.  p.  XXV. 
Ibid.,  p.    1041. 


74  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 

shipped  his  family  to  New  York 'and  almost  at  the  same  time 
sought  safety  under  the  protection  of  the  British  boats  in  the 
Cape  Fear.  In  less  than  four  years  from  his  coming  as  governor 
of  the  province  he  was  a  fugitive  from  his  capitol.  A  capitol  he 
would  never  see  again.  He  was  flying  for  his  liberty  if  not  for 
his  life.  Thus  the  people  were  the  direct  agents  that  brought 
about  the  end  of  the  royal  authority  in  North  Carolina.^*^^ 


108  wjieeler,  Remiscences  of  North  Carolina,  p.  129. 
i«»  O.  R.,  Vol.  IX,  p.  xxxvi. 


<^' 


